Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is used in food as a propellant (E942), most familiarly in pressurised whipped cream chargers, where it dissolves in cream under pressure and, on release, causes rapid expansion that aerates the cream into a foam. It is also used in some beverage dispensing systems and as an inert packaging gas. Food-grade nitrous oxide chargers have been commercially available since the 1930s.

JECFA has not established a numerical ADI for nitrous oxide in food applications, as the quantities absorbed from food contact are negligible and the gas is handled as a normal respiratory component. Extensive medical use as an anaesthetic and analgesic over more than 150 years provides a substantial human safety record.

Nitrous oxide is approved in the EU (E942), the United States, and globally for use in food dispensing and packaging. The quantities involved in food use — typically a few milligrams per serving — present no health concern. It is important to note that the recreational misuse of nitrous oxide cartridges in quantities far exceeding food use carries genuine health risks; this is entirely separate from its safe application as a food propellant. There are no known adverse effects from food-contact use.