Calcium stearoyl lactylate

What this is

Calcium stearoyl lactylate, also called calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate, is the calcium salt form of stearoyl lactylic acids and is labeled in some markets as E 482 or INS 482(i). It is used mainly as an emulsifier, stabilizer, flour treatment agent, dough conditioner, whipping agent, or conditioning agent in bakery products, egg whites, toppings, and dehydrated potatoes. Regulators do not treat it as a broadly banned additive, but they do limit where and how much may be used. The main safety question is exposure rather than a strong demonstrated toxic effect: JECFA set an acceptable daily intake of 0–20 mg/kg body weight, while EFSA later set 22 mg/kg body weight per day for sodium and calcium stearoyl lactylates used singly or together. EFSA found low acute toxicity, no genotoxicity concern, and metabolism to lactic and stearic acids, but also noted limited direct reproductive and cancer data and modeled intakes above the ADI for some children and high consumers. A later Belgian exposure study was generally reassuring but still found a small percentage of children above the ADI.

Safety Review

The critical endpoints experts review in safety assessments. This is not a prediction of harm.

Safety reviews describe calcium stearoyl lactylate as readily broken down to lactic acid and stearic acid, with low acute toxicity and no clear genotoxicity concern. The stronger remaining issue is exposure margin: EFSA modeled combined sodium and calcium stearoyl lactylate intakes above the ADI for children and high consumers, although a later Belgian study found exceedance mainly in a small percentage of children. EFSA also noted that direct reproductive and carcinogenicity studies were not available, so the concern is limited and uncertainty-based rather than evidence of proven human harm at permitted use levels.

No safety review endpoints are listed for this ingredient yet.