Sucrose acetate isobutyrate

Sucrose acetatisobutyrate consists of a mixture of different ester compounds of sucrose and has been used for decades as an emulsifier and as a stabiliser of flavours and colourings in food. Sucrose acetatisobutyrate is approved in Europe under the number E 444, but only for flavoured, cloudy non-alcoholic beverages and for flavoured cloudy beverages with an alcohol content < 15%. The maximum permitted level is 300 mg/l.

Sucrose acetatisobutyrate is produced artificially. This substance is a mixture of various ester compounds of household sugar sucrose. Due to its structure, sucrose acetate is able to adapt the density of oily phases to the density of water as a so-called "weighting agent". e.g. sucrose acetate acetate is "weighted" in aqueous solutions, for example in beverages, oily flavours and colourings, so that they do not cause milky cloudiness as an emulsion, but are distributed evenly in the liquid.