E507 - Hydrochloric acid

Hydrochloric acid is a colorless inorganic chemical system with the formula H2O:HCl. Hydrochloric acid has a distinctive pungent smell. It is mainly produced as a precursor to vinyl chloride for PVC. It is classified as strongly acidic and can attack the skin over a wide composition range, since the hydrogen chloride practically dissociates completely in solution. Hydrochloric acid is the simplest chlorine-based acid system containing water. It consists of hydrogen chloride and water, and a variety of other chemical species, including hydronium and chloride ions. It is an important chemical reagent and industrial chemical, used primarily in the production of polyvinyl chloride for plastic. In households, diluted hydrochloric acid is often used as a descaling agent. In the food industry, hydrochloric acid used as a food additive and in the production of gelatin. Hydrochloric acid is also used in leather processing. Hydrochloric acid was discovered by the alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan around the year 800 AD. Hydrochloric acid was historically called acidum salis, muriatic acid, and spirits of salt because it was produced from rock salt and "green vitriol" -IronII sulfate- -by Basilius Valentinus in the 15th century- and later from the chemically similar common salt and sulfuric acid -by Johann Rudolph Glauber in the 17th century-. Free hydrochloric acid was first formally described in the 16th century by Libavius. Later, it was used by chemists such as Glauber, Priestley, and Davy in their scientific research. Unless pressurized or cooled, hydrochloric acid will turn into a gas if there is around 60% or less of water. Hydrochloric acid is also known as hydronium chloride. - Wikipedia

EFSA evaluation: Re‐evaluation of hydrochloric acid -E 507-, potassium chloride -E 508-, calcium chloride -E 509- and magnesium chloride -E 511- as food additives (2019/07/06)

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has determined that some population groups have a moderate risk of reaching or exceeding the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for E507 - Hydrochloric acid.

To evaluate your exposure to the E507 - Hydrochloric acid food additive, you can browse our list of products that contain it. See the list of products with E507 - Hydrochloric acid below.

	Infants	Toddlers	Children	Adolescents	Adults	Elderly
	< 1	1 to 2	3 to 9	10 to 17	18 to 64	65+
High risk (50% of people or more)
Moderate risk (5% of people or more)

: Risk of reaching or exceeding the acceptable daily intake (ADI)