What Is Modified Food Starch?

FDA rules at 21 CFR 172.892 say food starch-modified may be safely used in food, and that the quantity of any substance used to modify it may not exceed the amount reasonably required to accomplish the intended physical or technical effect, or any limit the rule sets. The rule says food starch may be acid-modified with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid or both, bleached with listed agents, oxidized with chlorine as sodium hypochlorite at no more than 0.055 pound of chlorine per pound of dry starch, or esterified with listed agents.

The source can matter for allergies. The FDA's January 2025 allergen labeling guidance says a major food allergen is milk, fish, eggs, crustacean shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soybeans or sesame, or an ingredient that contains protein derived from one of them. It says ingredients derived from an allergen-bearing plant that contain no protein from the allergen are not subject to allergen labeling, but an ingredient obtained or processed so that it contains residual allergen protein is. Under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, an allergen can be declared by following the ingredient's name with the name of its food source in parentheses.

For gluten-free labeling, FDA rules at 21 CFR 101.91 say a gluten-free food may not contain an ingredient derived from a gluten-containing grain and processed to remove gluten, such as wheat starch, if it results in 20 parts per million or more gluten. A gluten-free food that lists wheat must follow the word with an asterisk pointing to a statement that the wheat has been processed to allow the food to meet FDA gluten-free requirements.