An E number is not a warning. It is a filing reference — and most of the panic about them is aimed at the wrong list.
An E number means an additive has been assessed and approved for use in the UK and EU. That is the whole of what the letter and the digits tell you. E300 is ascorbic acid, better known as vitamin C. E330 is citric acid, the sharpness in a lemon. E440 is pectin, the thing that sets jam. None of those are laboratory inventions, and none of them make a food ultra-processed.
This matters because “count the E numbers” has become the popular shorthand for spotting ultra-processed food, and it is not what the NOVA system says. A scanner that flags every additive equally would call a tin of preserved vegetables ultra-processed. That is the mistake this page exists to correct.
What the number ranges mean
Additives are grouped by what they do. The range tells you the function, and the function — not the presence of a number — is what decides whether it signals ultra-processing.
E100–E199
Colours
Group 4 markerRestore or add colour. Purely cosmetic, which is why they are a NOVA group 4 marker.
E200–E299
Preservatives
Not a markerSlow spoilage and control bacteria. Preservation is the oldest reason to process food at all.
E300–E399
Antioxidants & acidity regulators
Not a markerStop fats going rancid and control pH. E300 is ascorbic acid — vitamin C.
E400–E499
Thickeners, stabilisers, emulsifiers
Depends on useControl texture and stop ingredients separating. The one class that splits: technical use is group 3, cosmetic formulation is group 4.
E500–E599
Anti-caking agents & raising agents
Not a markerKeep powders free-flowing, make baked goods rise. E500 is sodium carbonates — the family that includes bicarbonate of soda.
E600–E699
Flavour enhancers
Group 4 markerAmplify savouriness. Cosmetic by definition, so a group 4 marker.
E900–E999
Sweeteners & glazing agents
Group 4 markerNon-sugar sweeteners are a group 4 marker — they exist to make a formulation taste of something it is not.
Which additives are actually ultra-processing markers
Under NOVA, the question is not whether a substance was added but why. Additives that make food keep longer or hold together for technical reasons belong to group 3 — the group that contains tinned fish, cured meat and traditional cheese. Additives whose job is to make an industrial formulation look, taste or feel like food are the group 4 markers.
The markers are, in practice:
- Colours— nothing about a colour makes food last longer or travel better. It exists to be seen.
- Flavourings and flavour enhancers— including “natural flavouring”, which is a processing term rather than a reassurance.
- Non-sugar sweeteners — see our guide to aspartame.
- Cosmetic emulsifier and stabiliser systems — the hardest call on the label, because the same substance can be technical or cosmetic depending on the product. See E471.
And the ones that are not markers on their own: preservatives, antioxidants, acidity regulators, raising agents, anti-caking agents and fortification. A tin of tomatoes with citric acid in it is not ultra-processed, and a scanner that says otherwise is wrong. That is why we wrote a whole page about citric acid, the most-feared harmless ingredient in the aisle.
Approved does not mean nutritious — and it does not mean dangerous
Approval is a safety assessment at expected intakes, usually expressed as an Acceptable Daily Intake. It is a statement about toxicology, not about diet quality. A drink sweetened with an approved sweetener is not unsafe; it is also not a health food. Both things are true, and the discourse around additives tends to insist on only one of them at a time.
The honest position is narrower than either camp would like. Approved additives have been assessed as safe at the levels people actually consume. Separately, diets high in ultra-processed food are associated with worse health outcomes in cohort studies — associations of varying certainty, not proof of cause. Those are two different claims about two different things, and collapsing them is how you end up frightened of citric acid.
The six colours that carry a warning
There is one place where UK labels are explicit. Six colours — tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow FCF (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red AC (E129) — must be labelled with the wording “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children”. The requirement is set out in Annex V of Regulation 1333/2008, retained in UK law. If you want one additive rule worth acting on, it is that one, and it is printed on the pack for you. We explain what it means and does not mean here.
How Cull handles additives
Cull names every additive it finds and says what each one does, rather than returning a count. Additives feed the score through the additive-risk component, and processing is assessed separately — so a preservative does not silently push a product into a UPF verdict. Where a call is genuinely borderline, the app says so instead of inventing certainty. NOVA coding is not a solved problem: trained evaluators reach only fair agreement.
Additive guides
Sources
Scan a label and see every additive named.
Free download · iOS 17+ · Not medical advice.
