Carboxymethylcellulose derives its vegan and vegetarian status from cellulose, sodium monochloroacetate.
| Vegan? Yes | Vegetarian? Yes |
Classifications are made based on the available commercial supply of the ingredient, and are made based on the criteria on our classifications page.
Commercially available carboxymethylcellulose is vegan and vegetarian.
Sodium carboxymethylcellulose, also known as cellulose gum (and frequently just referred to as carboxymethylcellulose since carboxymethylcellulose is spontaneously converted to the sodium salt form in an alkaline solution), is a white to cream colored powder used as a binder, film former, emulsifier, and viscosity increasing agent in cosmetics. It is made by treating cellulose in the form of wood pulp or cotton with an alkali and sodium monochloroacetate.