21 CFR § 178.3750 - Polyethylene glycol (mean molecular weight 200-9,500).

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t21/s178.3750"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "21 CFR § 178.3750 - Polyethylene glycol (mean molecular weight 200-9,500)."
title_number: 21
title_name: "Food and Drugs"
section_number: "178.3750"
section_name: "Polyethylene glycol (mean molecular weight 200-9,500)."
chapter_name: "FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION"
part_number: "178"
part_name: "INDIRECT FOOD ADDITIVES: ADJUVANTS, PRODUCTION AIDS, AND SANITIZERS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "21 U.S.C. 321, 342, 348, 379e."
regulatory_source: "42 FR 14609, Mar. 15, 1977, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "178"
---


# 178.3750 Polyethylene glycol (mean molecular weight 200-9,500).

Polyethylene glycol identified in this section may be safely used as a component of articles intended for use in contact with food, in accordance with the following prescribed conditions:

(a) The additive is an addition polymer of ethylene oxide and water with a mean molecular weight of 200 to 9,500.

(b) It contains no more than 0.2 percent total by weight of ethylene and diethylene glycols if its mean molecular weight is 350 or higher and no more than 0.5 percent total by weight of ethylene and diethylene glycols if its mean molecular weight is below 350, when tested by the analytical methods prescribed in § 172.820(b) of this chapter.

(c) The provisions of paragraph (b) of this section are not applicable to polyethylene glycols used in food-packaging adhesives complying with § 175.105 of this chapter.