Additives and nickel: 337 foods rated

Aluminium is not a nickel compound, but it is refined from mined ore, and nickel travels with aluminium out of the ground. The purity criteria of Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 cap heavy metals in food additives rather than removing them, so a residue remains by design.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — heavy metals are capped, not excluded

Aluminium potassium sulfate is not a nickel compound, but it is refined from mined ore, and nickel travels with aluminium out of the ground. The purity criteria of Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 cap heavy metals in food additives rather than removing them, so a residue remains by design.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — heavy metals are capped, not excluded

Aluminium silicate is a clay, and clays are the classic carriers of trace nickel - the metal sits in the mineral lattice as it came out of the deposit. Used as an anti-caking agent, so it turns up in powders. One thing to weigh, from the regulation that governs it: nickel is a stated purity criterion for E 555 potassium aluminium silicate and for NO other silicate — not for this one. The metals routinely capped here are arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium. Nickel travels with aluminium and clay out of the ore, and the law corroborates nothing about it for this particular additive.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for E 555 and not for the other silicates

Aluminium sodium sulfate is not a nickel compound, but it is refined from mined ore, and nickel travels with aluminium out of the ground. The purity criteria of Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 cap heavy metals in food additives rather than removing them, so a residue remains by design.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — heavy metals are capped, not excluded

Aluminium sulfate is not a nickel compound, but it is refined from mined ore, and nickel travels with aluminium out of the ground. The purity criteria of Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 cap heavy metals in food additives rather than removing them, so a residue remains by design.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — heavy metals are capped, not excluded

Bentonite is volcanic clay, used to clarify wine and juice. It works by binding what it touches, and it brings the trace nickel of its deposit into contact with the liquid while it does so. One thing to weigh, from the regulation that governs it: nickel is a stated purity criterion for E 555 potassium aluminium silicate and for NO other silicate — not for this one. The metals routinely capped here are arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium. Nickel travels with aluminium and clay out of the ore, and the law corroborates nothing about it for this particular additive.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for E 555 and not for the other silicates

Calcium aluminium silicate is a mined clay mineral used to keep powders flowing, and it carries the trace nickel of the deposit it came from - the figure varies with the source, not with the manufacturer. One thing to weigh, from the regulation that governs it: nickel is a stated purity criterion for E 555 potassium aluminium silicate and for NO other silicate — not for this one. The metals routinely capped here are arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium. Nickel travels with aluminium and clay out of the ore, and the law corroborates nothing about it for this particular additive.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for E 555 and not for the other silicates

Potassium aluminium silicate is mica, ground fine and used to give a pearl finish. It is a mined sheet mineral, and sheet minerals hold trace metals between their layers. Read against the regulation that governs it, this one is the exception among the silicates: nickel is a stated purity criterion for E 555 and for none of the others. A criterion is a CEILING and not a content, but the law does not set one where nothing is expected, so the ore-companion reasoning behind this level has the text on its side here.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for E 555 and not for the other silicates

Sodium aluminium phosphate is not a nickel compound, but it is refined from mined ore, and nickel travels with aluminium out of the ground. The purity criteria of Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 cap heavy metals in food additives rather than removing them, so a residue remains by design.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — heavy metals are capped, not excluded

Sodium aluminium silicate is a synthetic anti-caking agent, but it is made from mined raw materials and inherits their trace nickel. It coats salt, powdered milk and grated cheese. One thing to weigh, from the regulation that governs it: nickel is a stated purity criterion for E 555 potassium aluminium silicate and for NO other silicate — not for this one. The metals routinely capped here are arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium. Nickel travels with aluminium and clay out of the ore, and the law corroborates nothing about it for this particular additive.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for E 555 and not for the other silicates

Soy protein isolate concentrates the bean's protein, and the nickel comes with it. It hides in bars, shakes and meat substitutes where nobody reads the portion as a serving of soy.

• Flyvholm M-A et al., Z Lebensm Unters Forsch 179 (1984) 427-431, nickel content of food and estimates of dietary intake
• Noel L et al., Food Chemistry 132 (2012) 1502-1513, second French Total Diet Study, nickel among nine trace elements

Talc is a mined mineral, the softest there is, used as a release agent and polish. Like the other clays and silicates it carries the trace nickel of the rock it was quarried from. One thing to weigh, from the regulation that governs it: nickel is a stated purity criterion for E 555 potassium aluminium silicate and for NO other silicate — not for this one. The metals routinely capped here are arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium. Nickel travels with aluminium and clay out of the ore, and the law corroborates nothing about it for this particular additive.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for E 555 and not for the other silicates

Yeast extract is grown, then concentrated, and yeast takes up trace metals from whatever medium it grows in. Both steps push the nickel up, and the ingredient appears in stocks, crisps, sauces and anything savoury.

Brown FK is a mixture of azo dyes. Nothing in the molecule contains nickel, but nickel is the workhorse catalyst of industrial organic synthesis, and a trace of the catalyst survives into the product. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Butylated hydroxyanisole is a synthetic antioxidant for fats. Nothing in the molecule contains nickel, but nickel is the workhorse catalyst of industrial organic synthesis, and a trace of the catalyst survives into the product. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Calcium ferrocyanide is an anti-caking agent for salt, and it is a metal-cyanide complex built from mined iron. Nickel is a companion of iron in the ore and a residue of the synthesis. The dose in a pinch of salt is minute. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Potassium ferrocyanide is an anti-caking agent for salt, and it is a metal-cyanide complex built from mined iron. Nickel is a companion of iron in the ore and a residue of the synthesis. The dose in a pinch of salt is minute. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Processed Eucheuma seaweed is a thickener made from whole red algae rather than from extracted carrageenan, so it keeps more of what the seaweed absorbed. It is used in small amounts, which holds the level here. Seaweed is the reason nickel is asked about here at all: it concentrates trace elements from seawater, and the review behind this level is about exactly that load in seaweed and in the ingredients made from it.

• Bouga M. & Combet E., Foods 4 (2015) 240-253, trace elements and contaminants in seaweed and seaweed-containing foods

Sodium ferrocyanide is an anti-caking agent for salt, and it is a metal-cyanide complex built from mined iron. Nickel is a companion of iron in the ore and a residue of the synthesis. The dose in a pinch of salt is minute. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Stannous chloride is a tin salt used to keep canned white asparagus and similar products pale. Tin is mined, and nickel comes out of the ground with it. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Starch aluminium octenyl succinate is a starch modified with an aluminium salt, used to hold emulsions together. The starch carries nothing; the aluminium reagent is where the trace nickel comes from. One thing to weigh, from the regulation that governs it: nickel is a stated purity criterion for E 555 potassium aluminium silicate and for NO other silicate — not for this one. The metals routinely capped here are arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium. Nickel travels with aluminium and clay out of the ore, and the law corroborates nothing about it for this particular additive.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for E 555 and not for the other silicates

Sulfite-ammonia caramel is a caramel colour made by heating sugar with sulfite and ammonia. Nothing in the molecule contains nickel, but nickel is the workhorse catalyst of industrial organic synthesis, and a trace of the catalyst survives into the product. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Acetylated distarch phosphate is starch treated with acetic and phosphoric reagents so it survives freezing and canning. Starch itself is one of the emptiest materials there is; the trace comes from the treatment. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Alginic acid is extracted from brown seaweed, and seaweed concentrates whatever the seawater carries. Extraction leaves most of it behind, which is why the level is low rather than the seaweed's own. Seaweed is the reason nickel is asked about here at all: it concentrates trace elements from seawater, and the review behind this level is about exactly that load in seaweed and in the ingredients made from it.

• Bouga M. & Combet E., Foods 4 (2015) 240-253, trace elements and contaminants in seaweed and seaweed-containing foods

Amaranth is a synthetic azo dye built from naphthalene sulfonic acids - no plant or ore fraction goes into it. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Ammonia caramel is sugar heated with ammonium compounds until it browns. Sugar carries almost no metal; what little is here comes from the reagents and the equipment. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Ammonium alginate is a seaweed extract neutralised with ammonia. The seaweed origin is the only route to nickel here, and purification has already removed most of what the plant held. Seaweed is the reason this axis is asked about at all here: it concentrates trace elements from seawater, and the review behind this level is about exactly that load in seaweed and in the ingredients made from it.

• Bouga M. & Combet E., Foods 4 (2015) 240-253, trace elements and contaminants in seaweed and seaweed-containing foods

Artificial flavoring is a synthesised compound carried in a solvent, and the label names neither of them. A nickel content cannot be attached to a declaration that does not say which substance it stands for, so this level records that uncertainty rather than a measurement. What would change it is a label that names the flavour compound: then the answer belongs to that compound and not to the category.

Baker's yeast is grown on beet or cane molasses, and a yeast cell takes up the trace metals its medium carries, nickel among them — the same route that puts yeast extract high. What separates the two is concentration: the extract is the contents of many cells reduced to a paste, while this is the cells themselves, and a dough takes one to two per cent of the flour weight in yeast. The molasses varies with its crop and its refinery, so the nickel a batch carries follows where it was grown.

Brilliant Black BN is an azo dye assembled through coupling reactions on metal catalysts. The colour molecule holds no nickel; the process leaves a residue. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Brown HT is a synthetic azo colour, and like the rest of that family its nickel is a manufacturing residue rather than part of the dye. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

BHT is a synthetic antioxidant built from petrochemical feedstock. No nickel is in the formula; a trace of the synthesis is what can ride along. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Calcium alginate is the form that sets into a gel, used for beads and for reformed foods. It comes from brown seaweed like the rest of the family, and carries the same small residue. Seaweed is the reason nickel is asked about here at all: it concentrates trace elements from seawater, and the review behind this level is about exactly that load in seaweed and in the ingredients made from it.

• Bouga M. & Combet E., Foods 4 (2015) 240-253, trace elements and contaminants in seaweed and seaweed-containing foods

Caustic sulfite caramel is made with sulfite instead of ammonia, and is the one used in spirits. Same near-empty starting material, same trace from the process. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Copper chlorophyllins are plant chlorophyll with its magnesium swapped for copper. Both halves can carry a trace - the leaf from the soil, the copper salt from the ore it was refined out of. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Cross-linked sodium carboxymethylcellulose starts as wood or cotton cellulose and is chemically modified. Cellulose carries nothing; the reagents and the reactor account for the trace. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Ferrous gluconate is an iron salt, used to fortify and to keep black olives black. Nickel sits next to iron in the ore and follows it through refining - a residue rather than an absence. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Ferrous lactate is the same iron, paired with lactic acid instead of gluconic, and here the law answers the nickel question itself: Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 names nickel in the purity criteria of E 585, one of the fourteen additive monographs that have one, because nickel is iron's companion in the ore. A named criterion is a ceiling, not a content: what a given batch holds is not published.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

"Flavour" on a label can be any of thousands of compounds, natural or synthesised, carried in a solvent. The level reflects that uncertainty rather than a measurement of anything in particular. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Green S is a synthetic triarylmethane colour. Nickel is not in its structure - what little is present rides in from the reactions that built it. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Karaya gum is dried tree sap, so whatever the tree drew from the soil is in it. Sap carries far less nickel than a leaf or a seed would, and the gum is used in fractions of a percent.

Konjac is milled from a tuber, and a tuber sits in the soil for a season absorbing what is there. The flour is nearly pure glucomannan fibre, and it carries little of that nickel through.

Lecithin is separated from soybean or sunflower oil during refining, and the bean it came from is a high-nickel food. Almost none survives the separation - metals stay with the solids, not with the phospholipids. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Litholrubine BK colours nothing but the rind of hard cheese, so it never reaches the part most people eat. Its trace nickel is a synthesis residue. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

These mixed esters are the same chemistry as DATEM with acetic acid in the blend, used where a softer crumb is wanted. The nickel, if any, came in with the hardened fat rather than with the acid. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

DATEM is made by esterifying mono- and diglycerides, which come from fats often hardened over a nickel catalyst. It is the standard dough conditioner in industrial bread, so it is common rather than concentrated. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Nutritional yeast takes up trace metals, nickel among them, from the medium it is grown on, the same way yeast extract does - but it is the dried whole cell rather than a concentrate, so it carries less, and it is eaten by the tablespoon.

Pea protein is isolated from a legume, and legumes take nickel up through the urease route. Isolating the protein leaves most of the metal behind with the starch and fibre that were washed away.

Polydextrose carries a trace of nickel for a reason written into the law that governs it. E 1200 is made by CATALYTIC HYDROGENATION and the catalyst is nickel - the regulation says so in its own text - so its purity criteria carry a nickel limit of 2 mg/kg for hydrogenated polydextroses. That is a legal CEILING and not a content: what a given batch actually holds is not published, and 2 mg/kg is an order of magnitude below the foods that lead this axis. But a ceiling exists because a trace is expected.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, purity criteria per additive — nickel specified for the hydrogenated polyols

Polysorbate 60 is built from sorbitol and stearic acid, and food-grade stearic acid is commonly made by hydrogenating a vegetable oil - over a nickel catalyst. That is the route, and it leaves a residue rather than an ingredient. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Polysorbate 65 is the tristearate version of the same emulsifier, carrying three hydrogenated fatty acid chains instead of one. Same nickel-catalyst route, slightly more of it per molecule. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Potassium alginate thickens without adding sodium, which is its whole reason for existing. Its nickel, like every alginate's, comes from the seaweed it was extracted from. Seaweed is the reason this axis is asked about at all here: it concentrates trace elements from seawater, and the review behind this level is about exactly that load in seaweed and in the ingredients made from it.

• Bouga M. & Combet E., Foods 4 (2015) 240-253, trace elements and contaminants in seaweed and seaweed-containing foods

Propylene glycol alginate is a seaweed extract chemically modified to survive acid drinks and hold beer foam. Two origins meet in it, the seaweed and the synthesis, and neither contributes much. Seaweed is the reason nickel is asked about here at all: it concentrates trace elements from seawater, and the review behind this level is about exactly that load in seaweed and in the ingredients made from it.

• Bouga M. & Combet E., Foods 4 (2015) 240-253, trace elements and contaminants in seaweed and seaweed-containing foods

Propylene glycol is a synthetic carrier for flavours and colours, made from petrochemical feedstock over metal catalysts. It is a vehicle rather than an ingredient, present in fractions of a percent. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Silver leaf is a mined metal beaten thin for decoration. Silver ore carries other metals with it and refining reduces rather than removes them - though the quantity sitting on a sweet is barely weighable. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Sodium silicates are made from mined sand and soda. They belong to the same family as the anti-caking silicates rated higher here, but are used in far smaller amounts and in liquids rather than powders. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives

Soybean hemicellulose is fibre extracted from the soy hull, and soya is a high-nickel bean. The hull is the part that touched the soil, but extraction and purification leave very little of the metal behind.

Tertiary-butylhydroquinone: TBHQ protects frying oils from going rancid, and it is made by hydrogenation - the reaction nickel catalyses better than anything else. That is where the trace comes from. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all.

• Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, purity criteria for food additives