Vegan
How we decideFerrous lactate is vegan. It is iron combined with lactic acid, made from lactic acid and iron or from a lactate salt and a ferrous salt. The EU permits it for olives darkened by oxidation and for one mushroom used in Swedish liver pâté.
Ferrous lactate is the iron(II) salt of lactic acid, a greenish-white powder. It fixes the dark color of olives and, in the EU, darkens a mushroom by reacting with its polyphenols.
Ingredient Data
Vegan
E585
Iron(II) lactate; Iron(II) 2-hydroxypropanoate; INS 585
Producers react lactic acid with iron, or calcium lactate or sodium lactate with a ferrous salt such as ferrous sulfate. The lactate half starts as fermented sugar.
Olives darkened by oxidation, and the mushroom Albatrellus ovinus used in Swedish liver pâté.
Look for ferrous lactate or E585 on the olive ingredient list. The Swedish use is a mushroom that goes into liver pâté, which is not vegan.
It fixes the dark color of ripe olives, a use US rules list as a color fixative. The EU permits E585 in olives darkened by oxidation at up to 150 mg/kg, expressed as iron.
No. The lactate part comes from lactic acid, which is made by fermenting sugar. The US rule lists reacting lactic acid or a lactate salt with iron or a ferrous salt.