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EU Coumarin Limits by Food Category: What a Cinnamon COA Should Show

By E-Silk Route Ventures ·

EU Coumarin Limits by Food Category: What a Cinnamon COA Should Show

Compliance snapshot

  • Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, Annex III Part B, sets coumarin maximum levels by finished-food category: 5 mg/kg in desserts, 15 mg/kg in fine bakery ware, 20 mg/kg in breakfast cereals and 50 mg/kg in traditional or seasonal bakery ware that mentions cinnamon on the label (European Commission, 2008).
  • No EU limit is written for coumarin sitting naturally in cinnamon bark itself, so the ceiling a buyer needs is set in the supplier spec and checked on the COA (Joint Research Centre, 2025).
  • At a typical cassia level of 3,000 mg/kg, cinnamon can make up only 1.7 g per kg of a dessert before the 5 mg/kg limit is hit. Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) at 40 mg/kg or below removes that constraint.
  • Silk Foods Ceylon (SFC) arranges coumarin testing through an external laboratory on request, and a COA is available on request. This post is for EU and UK bakery, cereal and dessert formulators writing the coumarin line of a cinnamon spec. It is not for buyers who only need a general spice COA.

In September 2025 the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a study of 104 retail cinnamon samples bought in ten EU countries, the UK, Serbia and Sri Lanka. Over 66% of them failed an international quality standard, breached EU food-safety law, looked fraudulent, or potentially exceeded the legal coumarin limits. Thirty-one were flagged as potentially hazardous for children because of coumarin content. Up to 9% of the samples labelled Ceylon were wholly or partly cassia (JRC, 2025).

That result changes the question a cinnamon buyer should ask. “Is it cinnamon?” is not enough. The useful question is which coumarin number sits on the lot, how it was measured, and what finished-food category it ends up in. This post walks the EU limits category by category, shows the arithmetic that turns a limit into a recipe ceiling, and sets out the test method and COA lines to request. Silk Route Ventures (SRV) supplies the Ceylon cinnamon catalogue from Sri Lanka, and the species comparison itself is covered in Ceylon Cinnamon vs Vietnamese Cassia, so it is not repeated here.

What does EU law actually say about coumarin in cinnamon?

Coumarin is a naturally occurring compound that EFSA linked to liver effects in animal studies. EFSA set a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.1 mg per kg of body weight in 2004 and confirmed it in its 2008 re-evaluation (EFSA Journal, 2008). For a 60 kg adult that is 6 mg a day, and for a 20 kg child it is 2 mg.

The legal limits that follow from that TDI sit in Annex III Part B of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, the flavourings regulation (EUR-Lex, retrieved 12 November 2026). They apply to named finished-food categories, not to the spice. The JRC points out that there is no provision specific to coumarin naturally present in cinnamon (JRC, 2025). A supplier can therefore ship a cinnamon lot that is perfectly legal as a raw material and still leave the buyer unable to use it at the intended dose.

Finished-food category (Annex III Part B)Coumarin limitMax cassia per kg of food at 3,000 mg/kgMax Ceylon per kg of food at 40 mg/kg
Desserts5 mg/kg1.7 g125 g
Fine bakery ware (except traditional or seasonal with cinnamon on the label)15 mg/kg5 g375 g
Breakfast cereals, including muesli20 mg/kg6.7 g500 g
Traditional or seasonal bakery ware with a cinnamon reference on the label50 mg/kg16.7 g1,250 g

Limits: Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, Annex III Part B. Cinnamon inclusion is a worst-case ceiling that assumes all coumarin in the food comes from the cinnamon and none is lost in processing. The 3,000 mg/kg cassia figure sits inside the 2,000 to 7,000 mg/kg range reported in a Czech retail study of ground cinnamon (PMC3385612, 2012). The 40 mg/kg Ceylon figure is an upper typical value, and many lots test lower.

How does the limit turn into a recipe ceiling?

The ceiling per kilogram of food equals the category limit divided by the coumarin level of the cinnamon. A 5 mg/kg dessert limit divided by 3,000 mg/kg of coumarin in cassia leaves 0.0017 kg of cinnamon, or 1.7 g. A single teaspoon of ground cinnamon weighs about 2.6 g, so one teaspoon per kilogram of dessert already breaks the limit on cassia.

The same sum on Ceylon cinnamon gives 125 g per kilogram of dessert. No recipe uses that much. The limit stops being the binding constraint, and flavour intensity and cost become the real design choices. That is the practical meaning of “species matters”: it moves the coumarin question from the compliance file to the formulation sheet.

Where the sum breaks down The table assumes the food’s only coumarin source is cinnamon. A recipe that adds cassia-flavoured ingredients, a cinnamon extract or a blended spice mix has to add those contributions together before comparing against the limit. Ask the formulation team to run the total, not the single ingredient.

What does a worked example look like for a cereal recipe?

Take a granola recipe that carries 0.6% cinnamon (6 g per kg) and sits in the 20 mg/kg breakfast cereal category. With cassia at an assumed 3,000 mg/kg, the cinnamon alone contributes 18 mg/kg of coumarin. That is inside the limit, but only just, and it leaves almost nothing for any other coumarin-bearing ingredient in the mix. One lot at 4,000 mg/kg pushes the same recipe to 24 mg/kg and over the limit.

Swap in Ceylon cinnamon at 40 mg/kg and the same 6 g per kg contributes 0.24 mg/kg, roughly 1% of the allowance. The recipe did not change. The paperwork behind it did, and so did the retailer-audit question. A buyer who can show a species line, a coumarin result on the lot and a maximum accepted value answers that audit in one reply.

Which test method should the COA name?

Coumarin in cinnamon is measured by liquid chromatography. The established routine is HPLC with UV or diode-array detection after a methanol and water extraction. LC-MS/MS gives lower detection limits and cleaner identification in a complex food matrix, which matters when the target is a finished food at 5 mg/kg rather than a spice at several thousand.

The method name matters more than the brand of instrument. A COA that says only “coumarin: 12” is not a document a retailer’s technical team will accept. A buyer cannot tell the unit, the basis, the detection limit or the lab. The JRC itself notes that standardised methods for cinnamon are still needed (JRC, 2025), so the method line on the certificate is how a buyer pins down what was measured.

Buyer’s checklist: the coumarin line on a cinnamon COA

  1. Botanical species stated as Cinnamomum verum, tied to the lot number
  2. Coumarin result in mg/kg, on an as-received basis, with the unit printed
  3. Method named (HPLC-UV or DAD, or LC-MS/MS), not just “tested”
  4. Limit of quantification printed, so “not detected” can be read properly
  5. Name of the laboratory, with its accreditation scope for the method
  6. Sample date and lot number matching the shipping documents
  7. A maximum accepted coumarin value written into the purchase specification
  8. Total ash and lead on the same report, since the JRC found failures on both

Where does Ceylon cinnamon fit in a coumarin spec?

True Ceylon cinnamon typically tests below 40 mg/kg of coumarin, and the species also carries EU protected-geographical-indication status for the phrase “Ceylon cinnamon” under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/176 (EUR-Lex). The spec clause that follows is short: species named, coumarin maximum stated, method named, one COA per lot.

SFC’s Matale facility, 1 km from Nalanda Gedige in Central Province, handles cinnamon under FSSC 22000 Version 6, and SRV supplies cinnamon powder and quills against the buyer’s specification. Coumarin testing is arranged through an external laboratory on request, and the result travels with the COA. For the full clause list around the coumarin line, see the RFQ specification for Cinnamomum verum, and for how this limit sits alongside other contaminant rules, the EU botanical sourcing guide to MRL and novel food rules. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids follow the same pattern of a category limit and an LC-MS/MS test, covered in the EU limits for herbal teas.

Where SRV’s cinnamon does not fit A formulation that depends on the hot, sharp profile of cassia, or a brief priced against the lowest-cost bark on the market, is better served by a cassia supplier with a coumarin clause of its own. Ceylon costs more per kilogram. It earns that only where the coumarin ceiling or the Ceylon label claim is doing real work.

FAQ

Not as such. Annex III Part B of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 limits coumarin in four finished-food categories, from 5 mg/kg in desserts to 50 mg/kg in traditional or seasonal bakery ware that mentions cinnamon on the label, and the JRC notes there is no provision specific to coumarin naturally in cinnamon (JRC, 2025). Buyers set the ingredient ceiling in the spec.

What coumarin level should a cinnamon COA show?

For Cinnamomum verum, lots typically test below 40 mg/kg, and a buyer can write a maximum of that order into the purchase specification. Cassia in a Czech retail study ran 2,000 to 7,000 mg/kg (PMC3385612, 2012). The COA should print the result in mg/kg, the method, the limit of quantification and the lot number.

How do I work out how much cinnamon my recipe can contain?

Divide the category limit by the coumarin level of the cinnamon, then multiply by 1,000 to get grams per kilogram of food. Example: 5 mg/kg for desserts divided by 3,000 mg/kg for cassia is 1.7 g per kg. Add any other coumarin-bearing ingredients before comparing against the limit.

Does SRV supply Ceylon cinnamon with a coumarin test result?

Yes. Silk Route Ventures supplies Ceylon cinnamon powder and quills from the Silk Foods Ceylon facility in Matale, with commercial orders from 100 kg per SKU and trial quantities from 10 kg. A COA is available on request, and coumarin testing through an external laboratory can be arranged. Samples are free for evaluation, and the buyer covers the courier.

How Silk Route Ventures can help

Silk Route Ventures (SRV) supplies Cinnamomum verum in quills and powder from the Silk Foods Ceylon (SFC) facility in Matale, which operates under FSSC 22000 Version 6. Commercial orders start at 100 kg per SKU, trial quantities from 10 kg, with 2 to 3 weeks from PO to dispatch on standard SKUs and pricing FOB Colombo. A COA is available on request, with coumarin tested through an external laboratory when the spec calls for it. Samples are free for evaluation, and you cover the courier. To put a coumarin ceiling into your next cinnamon specification, contact us with the finished-food category and the dose you need.

Sources

Written by the Silk Route Ventures Trade Team. Silk Route Ventures (E-Silk Route Ventures (Pvt) Ltd) is a Sri Lankan B2B supply-chain operator for the Food, Beverage, Wellness, and Nutraceuticals sectors. Questions or to request a sample: Contact us or email info@esilkroute.com.lk.

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