Short answer: your cost per tonne goes up and your oxidation control gets harder to manage, because ethoxyquin was unusually effective per unit. What you buy in return is market access. Anyone telling you a replacement is both cheaper and equally effective is selling, not advising.
This page covers where ethoxyquin now stands market by market, what the authorised alternatives actually are, why dosage has to split by application, and how to verify oxidation control in your own operation rather than taking a datasheet on trust.
| Market | Status | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | Definitively refused — suspended 2017, made permanent 2022 | Reg. (EU) 2017/962; Reg. (EU) 2022/1375 |
| Vietnam | Banned in all feed from 1 April 2020 | MARD decision, driven by EU shrimp export requirements |
| United States | Permitted, up to 150 ppm | FDA feed provisions |
| China | Permitted | MARA feed additive catalogue |
The pattern worth noticing: the EU decision propagates through supply chains rather than stopping at the EU border. Vietnam did not ban ethoxyquin because of a domestic safety finding; it banned it because Vietnamese shrimp goes to Europe. If you sell into any chain that terminates in the EU, the relevant document may be your buyer's specification rather than your own regulator's list.
| Option | EU feed authorised? | Practical note |
|---|---|---|
| BHA (E 320) | Yes | Combined limit with BHT applies; effective in fats and oils |
| BHT (E 321) | Yes | Widely used, usually blended rather than alone |
| Propyl gallate (E 310) | Yes | Sensitive to iron; needs a chelator alongside it in mineral-rich matrices |
| TBHQ | No | Listed for farmed animals in China's catalogue; not in EU feed authorisations; not in the US feed provisions of 21 CFR |
| Mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract | Yes, as feed materials or additives depending on form | Different cost and stability profile; generally needs higher inclusion and careful storage |
| Chelators (citric acid, EDTA) | Depends on the specific substance and form | Not antioxidants themselves — they suppress metal-catalysed initiation, which is often the actual problem |
The chelator row is the one most often skipped. Mineral premixes are full of iron and copper, and those metals catalyse the initiation step of lipid oxidation. An antioxidant system without a chelator is fighting a reaction that is being continuously restarted.
A single recommended figure across all applications is a simplification, and it fails in both directions: it over-treats complete feed and under-protects stored meals. Complete feed carries a few percent added fat; fishmeal and meat-and-bone meal can be highly unsaturated, and in a tropical warehouse they self-heat.
| Application | Why it differs | SILSEP VSW5 published dosage |
|---|---|---|
| Complete feed | Low added fat, short residence before consumption | 100–300 g/T |
| Concentrate | Higher fat and mineral load, longer chain to the mill | 600–1,000 g/T |
| Premix | Trace metals concentrated; vitamins to protect | 600–1,800 g/T |
| Fishmeal / meat-and-bone meal | Highly unsaturated, self-heating, months of ambient storage | 2,000–3,000 g/T |
Whoever you buy from, ask for the split rather than the headline. A supplier who can only give you one number has either not tested across applications or is not telling you which one the number came from.
VSW5 is a TBHQ + BHT + chelator system and contains no ethoxyquin. That makes it a straightforward answer for Vietnam, where ethoxyquin has been banned since 2020, and for the rest of Southeast Asia, South Asia and MENA.
It is not the right product for EU or US feed, because TBHQ is not authorised for feed in either. If that is your market, you need a BHA/BHT/propyl gallate system or a natural one — and we would rather tell you now than let you discover it at the port.
Trial quantities start at a single carton, with TDS, SDS and COA. Related reading: how oxidation and volatilisation interact in tropical storage, and the dosing guide by application.
Permanently withdrawn. Regulation (EU) 2017/962 suspended the authorisation in 2017 after EFSA could not conclude on the safety of its degradation product ethoxyquin quinone imine and the impurity p-phenetidine. Regulation (EU) 2022/1375 then converted that suspension into a definitive refusal. People still describe it as 'suspended' — that has been out of date since 2022.
The EU, definitively since 2022. Vietnam banned it across all feed categories from 1 April 2020, driven by shrimp export exposure to the EU market. The United States still permits it at up to 150 ppm, and it remains permitted in China. If you export processed protein to the EU, the relevant constraint may be your customer's specification rather than your own country's law.
The authorised synthetic antioxidants in EU feed are BHA (E 320), BHT (E 321) and propyl gallate (E 310), usually combined with a chelator to deal with the trace iron and copper that catalyse oxidation in mineral premixes. Natural systems based on mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract are an alternative with a different cost and stability profile. Cost per tonne usually rises, because ethoxyquin was unusually effective per unit — the honest framing is that you are paying for market access, not for better oxidation control.
Because the oxidation load does. Complete feed contains a few percent added fat; fishmeal and meat-and-bone meal can be highly unsaturated and self-heating. A single recommended dosage figure across all applications is a simplification that will either under-protect stored meals or over-treat complete feed. VSW5 is published as four figures for this reason: complete feed 100-300 g/T, concentrate 600-1,000 g/T, premix 600-1,800 g/T, and fishmeal or meat-and-bone meal 2,000-3,000 g/T.
It varies and it matters. TBHQ is listed for farmed animals in China's feed additive catalogue. It is not among the antioxidants authorised for feed in the EU, and it does not appear in the feed provisions of 21 CFR in the United States, where it is authorised for human food only. VSW5 contains TBHQ and BHT, so it suits markets where TBHQ is permitted and is not the right product for EU or US feed. We would rather state that here than have you find out at the port.
Run peroxide value and, ideally, anisidine value on the fat fraction at day 0 and after accelerated storage — 40°C at around 75% relative humidity, sampled at 30, 60 and 90 days. Include an untreated control and your incumbent product in the same run. Peroxide value alone can mislead late in the reaction because primary peroxides break down; the pair together gives you the full picture.
See VSW5 specifications Request a trial quantity
Last updated: 3 September 2026 · Product and company names referred to on this page are trademarks of their respective owners. SILSEP is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Regulatory statements reflect publicly available instruments as at the date above; verify the current position for your market before importing.