E1402 — Alkaline-treated starch
Why it’s used
Native starch modified by soaking in dilute sodium or potassium hydroxide, which changes how the granules swell and clarify without fully gelatinising them. It is used as a thickener and stabiliser in sauces, gravies, and other processed foods, valued for producing a clearer paste and more consistent viscosity than untreated starch.
Other names
Alkali-modified starch, Alkali-treated starch
Diet flags
Regulatory status
21 CFR 172.892 (Food starch-modified) explicitly lists acid modification, several bleaching/oxidising agents, esterification, etherification, and enzymatic treatments as permitted starch modifications, but does not separately list a plain alkali-only treatment, leaving alkaline-treated starch without a clearly corresponding FDA listing. Source (2026-07-24)
Approved EU-wide as part of the 'modified starches' group food additive, usable at quantum satis across most food categories under Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, but excluded from foods for infants and young children. Source (2026-07-24)
Regulatory status by region
FDA's food-starch-modified regulation enumerates specific permitted treatments — acid, several oxidising/bleaching agents, esterifying agents, etherifying agents, and enzymes — but a standalone alkali (e.g., sodium or potassium hydroxide) treatment is not among them; alkali pretreatment is recognised only as a step within GRAS dextrin/roasted-starch production under 21 CFR 184.1277, not as its own modified-starch category. The EU has no such gap: alkaline-treated starch is explicitly included in the 'modified starches' group food additive authorised at quantum satis under Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008.
EFSA's framework treats alkaline-treated starch as one member of the broad 'modified starches' group food additive authorised under Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, which is why it needs no standalone alkali-specific entry the way FDA's enumerated-process regulation would require — the EU group authorisation is deliberately process-agnostic and covers it alongside the other modification methods. That group status also carries a quantum satis limit, meaning EU manufacturers face no numeric dosage cap across most food categories, only a categorical exclusion for foods intended for infants and young children. The EU approach is broader by design, authorising the modification technique itself rather than listing each specific reagent.
Found in these products
None of the products in our database currently contain E1402.