Is Polysorbate 80 Safe?

Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier, chemically polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate. The FDA's regulation, 21 CFR 172.840, says it may be used in food under prescribed conditions, for example as an emulsifier in ice cream, frozen custard, ice milk, fruit sherbet and nonstandardized frozen desserts at no more than 0.1 percent of the finished dessert, alone or combined with polysorbate 65. In a summary issued July 7, 2026, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives confirmed a group acceptable daily intake of 0 to 25 mg per kilogram of body weight for the polysorbates, including the sorbitan monoester of oleic acid.

The questions come from animal research. A 2015 study in Nature reported that in mice, relatively low concentrations of the emulsifiers carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80 induced low-grade inflammation and obesity or metabolic syndrome in normal mice and promoted robust colitis in mice predisposed to it, effects the authors associated with changes in the gut microbiota.

Later work suggests emulsifiers differ. A 2021 study in Nutrients, using mice given gut microbiota from people with inflammatory bowel disease, found carboxymethylcellulose caused more intestinal inflammation than polysorbate-80 and concluded that commonly used dietary emulsifiers have different abilities to induce colitis. Both are mouse studies.