Is e462 vegan?
E462 is a vegan food ingredient.
Checking out an ingredients list? 👇
Vegan Ingredient Checker
Scan labels, check if ingredients are vegan
"You are amazing, this has saved me so much time when grocery shopping!"
— Austin, a user who reached out with feedback
"It's been a great tool since starting my journey! You take a pic of the nutrition/ingredients, and it'll warn you of anything questionable or not vegan. 😁"
— Ashe, a Vegan For Beginners Facebook Group member
"Use a vegan app when you go shopping, I use WhatsVegan."
— Dóra, a Vegan For Beginners Facebook Group member
Learn more
"You are amazing, this has saved me so much time when grocery shopping!"
— Austin, a user who reached out with feedback
"It's been a great tool since starting my journey! You take a pic of the nutrition/ingredients, and it'll warn you of anything questionable or not vegan. 😁"
— Ashe, a Vegan For Beginners Facebook Group member
"Use a vegan app when you go shopping, I use WhatsVegan."
— Dóra, a Vegan For Beginners Facebook Group member
So, what is e462?
E462 is the European food additive code for ethyl cellulose. It is a modified derivative of natural cellulose, which is extracted from plant sources such as wood pulp or cotton linters. Manufacturers produce ethyl cellulose by treating this plant cellulose with an alkali and reacting it with ethyl chloride. In the food and supplement industries, it functions as an emulsifier, thickener, binding agent, and moisture-resistant coating for encapsulated ingredients, vitamins, and pharmaceutical tablets.
Ethyl cellulose is classified as vegan because its production relies strictly on plant and synthetic raw materials. The base structure comes entirely from plants, and the chemical reagents used to modify it are synthetic, requiring no animal-derived inputs. Animal tissues, fats, or animal-based processing aids are not used during the manufacturing process. Consequently, E462 meets vegan standards.
How to quickly find the source of ingredients like e462?
We've built a vegan ingredients scanner that classifies food ingredients as "vegan", "non-vegan", or "potentially vegan".
It allows you to avoid non-vegan ingredients - just take a picture of a product's ingredient list, and the app tells you if the product is vegan or not.
We'll never send you spam.