E210 — Benzoic acid
E210 (Benzoic acid), a preservative, is rated "avoid": worth avoiding. A preservative in soft drinks, pickles, and sauces. In acidic drinks it can react with vitamin C to form benzene, a known human carcinogen. EFSA found toddlers and children who drink flavoured drinks regularly can go over the safe daily limit.
What is Benzoic acid?
An organic acid found naturally in cranberries, plums, and cinnamon, but made industrially for food use. You meet it mostly in fizzy and flavoured drinks, pickled foods, sauces, and salad dressings — usually alongside its salts (E211–E213).
What does it do to the body?
Your body clears most of it within a day, and a glass here or there is not the issue. Two things drive the concern. First, when benzoate and vitamin C sit in the same acidic drink, warmth and light can slowly convert them into benzene, a carcinogen — the reason major drink brands reformulated in the mid-2000s. Second, EFSA's own exposure modelling shows toddlers and children who drink flavoured soft drinks daily can exceed the safe limit, especially if they stick to one brand.
What regulators say
EFSA set a group acceptable daily intake of 5 mg per kg of body weight per day in 2016, and stated the limit is exceeded by toddlers and children who are regular flavoured-drink consumers. The FDA still permits it as GRAS. It remains legal — the flag reflects the benzene reaction and the children's exposure gap, not a ban.
Risk rating: Avoid
Known or suspected to cause harm: a substance EFSA or another regulator has flagged, or one restricted in some jurisdictions. Best kept out of a regular diet.
Source: EFSA — re-evaluation of benzoic acid and benzoates (2016) ↗