E237

Preservative.

Formic acid plus sodium salt. Used in dyeing, printing of fabric, leather tanning, chrome electroplating process, paper industry as anti oxidants, enzyme stabiliser in detergents, as a fixing agent and in the manufacturing of Formic acid, Oxalic acid, Sodium hydro sulphite and metal formates. Found in vosene shampoo and others.

List of tobacco additives permitted in the UK in March 2000
[extract from the official Department of Health documentation]
Formic acid.

A Diuretic, best avoided by those with kidney disorders.

Also to be found in Stinging Nettles. Urtica dioica.

All over the stern and leaves of a stinging nettle are sharp-pointed single celled stinging hairs. The base of each hair is thin walled and swollen with cell sap. If your skin brushes against a stinging nettle, it breaks off the glass-like tip on each hair, which can then pierce your skin. Wherever the sap which contains sodium formate, acetyl chorine and histamine enters your skin, it causes the unpleasant swelling as well as the stinging pain.

Not permitted in France or Australia

Suppliers of serrano ham and Spanish foods.