E232 - Sodium orthophenyl phenol
What it is and how it is used
Sodium orthophenylphenol — SOPP — is the sodium salt of 2-phenylphenol, and it has an unusual regulatory history: it did not fail a safety review so much as change category.
Its use was always narrow and post-harvest: it was applied to the skin of citrus fruit, usually in the wax coating, to stop moulds developing during shipping and storage. Because that is functionally a pesticide application to a crop rather than an ingredient added to a food, European regulators reclassified the substance as a plant protection active substance and removed it from the food additives list. The decision to redefine it was taken in 2003; it was classified as a plant protection active substance in 2010 and left the permitted additives list after a transition period.
Foods commonly containing it
Not used as a food additive. Where 2-phenylphenol is still applied to citrus post-harvest, it is regulated as a pesticide with maximum residue levels, and the fruit is labelled as treated. The advice that follows from that is simply to wash or avoid the peel of non-organic citrus if you are using zest.
Safety summary
Sodium orthophenylphenol (E 232) does not appear in the FSA Register of Food Additive Authorisations, the official list of additives authorised for the market in Great Britain, and it is not on the DHSC/FSA list of approved additives and E numbers. On the current GB list it is not an authorised food additive.
The correct place to look for current controls is not the additives regime at all but pesticide residue law, which sets maximum residue levels for 2-phenylphenol on treated crops. We have not quoted an additive ADI here because the substance is no longer regulated as an additive.
The preservatives that are authorised in Great Britain run from E 200 sorbic acid through the benzoates, sulphites and nitrites to E 285 borax and E 1105 lysozyme.