Banned or restricted substance
Is azodicarbonamide banned in India?
Last checked 21 September 2026
Azodicarbonamide is not a permitted food additive in India under the Food Additives Regulations and may not be used in any food as of 19 Sep 2026; it remains permitted in the United States up to 45 ppm.
- Classification
- Restricted (Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006)
- Decided by
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
- Reference
- Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 (positive list of permitted additives; azodicarbonamide absent)
- Latest action
- 21 September 2026
- Last checked
- 21 September 2026
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Safe here, banned there: what India's food regulations actually say
Our team has checked this record against the published reports, last on 21 September 2026. The government order itself is not published online, or we have not found it yet, so we link the best public report. If you have the order, send it to us and we will link it instead.
Scope. A record here does not by itself mean a product or company is unsafe or banned today. Regulatory actions can apply to one batch, one formulation, one period or one state. Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date. How we label records.
Below: Blacklisted's explanationWe explain what has been reported. The report above is the best source we hold.
Key facts
- What it is
- A foaming agent for plastics and rubber; used in some countries as a flour bleaching and dough-conditioning agent
- Status in India
- Not permitted, absent from the positive list
- Elsewhere
- Banned in the EU, UK and Australia; permitted in the US up to 45 ppm
- Concern
- Breaks down to semicarbazide and urethane during baking; respiratory sensitiser for workers
Azodicarbonamide is best known as the 'yoga-mat chemical' because its main industrial use is as a blowing agent that puts the bubbles into foamed plastics and rubber. In the United States it is also permitted as a flour bleaching agent and dough conditioner at up to 45 parts per million, and a 2014 campaign against its use in fast-food bread made it briefly famous. The European Union, the United Kingdom and Australia do not permit it in food, citing breakdown products formed during baking, semicarbazide and urethane, and its record as a respiratory sensitiser in workers.
India does not permit it either. The Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 work as a positive list: an additive may be used only if it appears in the relevant table for the relevant food, and azodicarbonamide does not appear. No specific ban was needed. Its status is therefore 'not permitted' rather than 'banned by order', which is why it is shown here as restricted rather than as a named prohibition.
Indian bread labels occasionally list 'flour treatment agent' with an INS number; the permitted agents include ascorbic acid and certain enzymes. Azodicarbonamide's INS number, 927a, should not appear.
What this means for you
Bread made in India should not contain it
Indian bakeries have no permission to use it. Imported bakery products are held to the same list.
'Banned here, legal there'
ADA and potassium bromate are the two additives most often cited when comparing Indian and US bread rules.
This is a record of official orders, not medical advice. Do not stop a prescribed medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.
Official sources and primary records
- News