E900 – Dimethylpolysiloxane - Food additives database

Safety grading GREEN – SAFE

Dimethylpolysiloxane, also called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), is authorised as food additive E900 mainly as an antifoaming agent. Major regulators, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have evaluated this silicone polymer and concluded that it is safe at the levels used in food. In its 2020 re-evaluation, EFSA set a new Acceptable Daily Intake, ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake), of 17 mg/kg body weight per day based on a long-term animal study with a NOAEL of 1,742 mg/kg bw/day. Typical dietary exposure from fried foods, soft drinks, soups and other applications is well below this value, giving a wide margin of safety.

Toxicological data show that orally ingested PDMS is poorly absorbed from the gut and is largely excreted unchanged. Studies do not show consistent evidence of genotoxicity, carcinogenicity or reproductive toxicity at realistic exposure levels, and effects in animals tend to appear only at extremely high doses that are not relevant for consumers. Independent scientific reviews that discuss analytical methods for measuring E900 in foods also summarise pharmacokinetic and toxicological work and do not identify systemic toxicity concerns at permitted uses. Taken together, the regulatory and independent evidence supports a GREEN – SAFE grading for the general population when E900 is used within legal limits and good manufacturing practice.

There are some practical caveats. Under very high frying temperatures and prolonged use of the same oil, PDMS can partially degrade and release smaller cyclic or linear siloxanes. These breakdown products are mainly of environmental interest, and current dietary exposure estimates remain low, but regulators continue to monitor them. For overall health it still makes sense to limit very fatty, deep-fried foods, yet this advice is driven much more by calories and fat quality than by the presence of E900 itself.

Should you avoid E900?

For most healthy consumers, there is no need to specifically avoid E900. It is present at very low levels in finished foods and its main role is to control foam during processing, bottling or frying. A normal diet that includes only occasional deep-fried or highly processed products will keep intake far below the ADI, and current evidence does not show meaningful health risks at such exposure levels. People who rely heavily on fried fast food and snacks may wish to cut back, but this is mainly to reduce fat, salt and calories rather than because of E900 itself. If you prefer a “low-additive” lifestyle, you can reduce exposure by cooking more at home and choosing products with shorter ingredient lists.

Common uses of E900

E900 (dimethylpolysiloxane) is used in a wide range of foods and beverages, primarily as an antifoaming and defoaming agent. Common applications include:

Vegetable oils and fats used for deep-frying (snack foods, French fries, doughnuts and other fried bakery products).
Industrial frying of potato crisps, extruded snacks and battered or breaded meat and fish products.
Carbonated soft drinks and some other beverages to control foam during production and filling.
Soups, broths, sauces and instant noodle seasonings to prevent excessive foaming during cooking and packaging.
Jams, jellies, marmalades and fruit preparations processed at high temperatures.
Chewing gum bases and confectionery coatings, often in combination with glazing agents.
Food supplements, such as effervescent tablets and certain liquid formulas, to keep foam under control during manufacture.

Common names / Synonyms

On food labels and in technical documents, E900 may appear under different names. The most frequent synonyms include:

Dimethylpolysiloxane
Dimethyl polysiloxane
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)
Dimethicone
Dimethyl silicone oil
Silicone oil antifoam
Silicone defoaming agent

What is it?

Dimethylpolysiloxane is a synthetic silicone polymer made of repeating siloxane units, where silicon and oxygen atoms alternate in a backbone chain and each silicon atom carries two methyl groups. This structure gives PDMS very low surface tension, high thermal stability and strong water repellency. For food use, manufacturers prepare highly purified, well characterised PDMS fluids that meet strict specifications for molecular weight, viscosity and impurities such as residual monomers and metals.

Industrial production of PDMS starts from silica (sand), which is reduced to elemental silicon and then reacted with methyl chloride to form chlorosilane intermediates. These chlorosilanes are hydrolysed and condensed to create linear siloxane chains. Through controlled polymerisation and catalytic processes, producers adjust chain length and branching to achieve the desired viscosity and antifoam performance, and food-grade PDMS is further refined, filtered and often blended with emulsifiers or silica to create stable antifoam formulations that disperse efficiently in oils or water-based systems.

In food processing, PDMS antifoams work by destabilising the bubbles in foaming liquids. When added at very low concentrations, the silicone droplets spread at the air–liquid interface, thin the bubble walls and cause them to collapse, which prevents excessive foam and allows safer, more efficient frying, boiling and filling operations. Most PDMS passes through the digestive tract without being absorbed and is excreted unchanged, although regulators continue to monitor potential impurities and degradation products formed at very high processing temperatures.

Where it’s allowed (EU vs US)

In the European Union, E900 is authorised as a food additive in several categories, including frying oils and fats, soups, beverages, fruit preparations, decorations and food supplements, with specific maximum levels and conditions defined in EU food additive legislation. In the United States, dimethylpolysiloxane is permitted as a component of defoaming agents under federal regulations, with limits on its concentration in finished foods and rules for the composition of the defoaming mixture and certain impurities such as formaldehyde. Many other regions, including Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia and Latin America, also allow E900 in similar uses at low maximum levels.

E900 – Dimethylpolysiloxane