What is "e number"

n. 1 Any of a range of European abbreviations for food additives used on labels. 2 (context British Ireland informal English) Any such additive, often regarded as undesirable.

E numbers are codes for substances that are permitted to be used as food additives for use within the European Union and Switzerland. The "E" stands for "Europe". They are commonly found on food labels throughout the European Union. Safety assessment and approval are the responsibility of the European Food Safety Authority.

Having a single unified list for food additives was first agreed upon in 1962 with food colouring. In 1964, the directives for preservatives were added, 1970 for antioxidants and 1974 for the emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and gelling agents.

E numbers are food additive codes.

E number or E code may also refer to:

• e (mathematical constant), the base of the natural logarithm
• E notation, the base-10 exponential notation
• International E-road network, a numbering system for roads in Europe
• External Cause of Injury Codes, codes used to define the mechanism of death or injury
• E-numbers in physics, the elements of a Clifford algebra in Arthur S. Eddington's "Fundamental theory"