Flavor Compliance & Inhalation Safety Database

What This Tool Does

This database lets you look up any flavor compound by name, CAS number, FEMA number, or FLAVIS number and instantly see its regulatory status across three jurisdictions. EU Tobacco Products Directive, ECHA REACH Annex XVII, and the Netherlands e-cigarette positive list. Each result shows whether a compound is explicitly prohibited, restricted, permitted, or carries an inhalation hazard flag, with the legal basis cited for every status.

It is built specifically for e-liquid formulators, flavor houses and vape liquid manufacturers

What the Database Contains

The database covers 2,581 compounds drawn from four primary regulatory sources:

• 2,479 compounds from the EU Union List of Approved Flavouring Substances (Regulation EC 1334/2008, Table 1). Every aroma chemical evaluated and approved for use in food in the European Union, each with its FLAVIS number, CAS number, JECFA number, and Council of Europe number where assigned
• 105 compounds explicitly prohibited under the EU Tobacco Products Directive as implemented in the Austrian TNRSG, covering seven prohibition categories. Additives that facilitate inhalation or nicotine uptake; CMR substances in unburned form; vitamins and health claim additives; caffeine, taurine, and stimulant compounds; and ingredients posing risk to human health in heated or unheated form
• 37 substances restricted under ECHA REACH Annex XVII, cross referenced against the EU flavourings list
• 16 compounds permitted under the Netherlands Tobacco and Smoking Products Decree 2022. Only flavourings currently legal in Dutch eliquid formulations.

Each compound record is also cross referenced with PubChem (CID and InChIKey), giving you a stable canonical identifier that resolves naming ambiguities across synonyms, trade names, and IUPAC designations.

Inhalation Risk Flags

Database carries compound-level inhalation risk flags that are independent of legal prohibition:

Diacetyl-class (8 compounds) Alpha diketone compounds associated with obliterative bronchiolitis at inhalation exposure levels. Includes diacetyl (2,3-butanedione), 2,3-pentanedione, 2,3-hexanedione, hexan-3,4-dione, 2,3-heptanedione, 2,3-octanedione, and acetoin. Diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione are explicitly prohibited under EU TPD. The remaining analogues carry a Use With Caution flag. No explicit legal prohibition currently exists, but NIOSH, OSHA, and EFSA have all identified the diketone structural class as a respiratory hazard.

ECHA REACH restricted: Compounds subject to legally binding use restrictions under REACH Annex XVII, including entry level flagging for CMR categories 1A/1B under entries 28, 29, and 30.

How to Search

Type at least three characters. Search matches against:

• Compound name (common name, IUPAC name, or any synonym)
• CAS Registry Number
• FLAVIS number
• FEMA number
• JECFA number
• PubChem CID

Data Sources and Methodology

Regulatory status data is compiled from primary legislative sources only

• EU Flavourings Union List: EUR-Lex consolidated Regulation (EC) 1334/2008, Annex I Table 1 (2022 edition), extracted and parsed from the official EUR-Lex PDF
• EU TPD prohibitions: Austrian Federal Ministry. Official TNRSG prohibited substances list, implementing EU TPD Article 7 and Article 20 restrictions
• ECHA REACH: Official restriction list exported from chem.echa.europa.eu, cross-referenced by CAS number against the flavourings list
• Netherlands positive list: RIVM documentation and Tabaks- en rookwarenbesluit 2022 Annex
• Inhalation risk classification: NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation reports, EFSA scientific opinion on flavouring group evaluation of diketones (2016), OSHA Diacetyl and Food Flavorings Hazard Alert
• Chemical identity: PubChem compound database (CID, InChIKey, canonical SMILES, IUPAC preferred name), resolved by CAS number

The database is not a substitute for legal advice or product registration assessment. Regulatory status of specific compounds and product categories should be confirmed against current national implementations of the EU TPD in the relevant market.

Important Limitations

Max limits are not available in public sources. The EU TPD prohibits certain additives categorically. It does not publish compound level maximum permitted concentrations for allowed ingredients. Flavor house databases that include ppm limits for inhalation use are proprietary and not publicly available. The absence of a prohibition entry in this database does not confirm that a compound is safe to use in e-liquid at any concentration.

Category level prohibitions require formulator judgment. Several EU TPD prohibitions apply to categories rather than individual compounds. For example, the prohibition on additives that “facilitate inhalation or nicotine uptake” requires evaluation of whether a specific compound’s cooling, numbing, or sensory properties trigger this category. The database flags known examples; novel compounds require case by case assessment.

The Netherlands list applies to flavourings only. The 16-compound Netherlands permitted list covers flavouring ingredients specifically. Carrier substances (propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin), nicotine, and others are outside the scope of this list.

Last verified: June 2026. Regulatory lists are updated only with significant regulatory update. Always cross-check against the current published version of the relevant regulation before finalizing a formulation.