00WHAT FOOD SAFETY AGENCIES SAY

Two cinnamons,
one swirl.

A tray of freshly baked cinnamon buns with glossy spiral tops on a wooden kitchen table, a few cinnamon sticks beside them — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

The cinnamon in a bun is usually one of two kinds.

Cassia and Ceylon cinnamon taste alike but differ in a natural flavouring called coumarin. Bakeries work to legal limits; the jar in your cupboard has none.

CASSIAor Ceylon?Updated 16 October 2026

Check a food

01Principles

Buns have a limit
The spice jar does not
Heavy users pick Ceylon
Enjoy the bun, know the spice

02THE SHORT ANSWER

The bun is
not the issue.

Coumarin limits apply to ready-made foods.
Home baking with lots of cassia is where agencies urge care.

TWO KINDS

Cassia is the strong one

Austria's food agency AGES says cassia cinnamon contains about a hundred times more coumarin than Ceylon cinnamon.

Check a food

THE LIMITS

The jar has no limit

Ready-made cinnamon foods have legal coumarin limits, but cinnamon sold as a spice has none, so how much goes in at home is up to you.

See the numbers

EVERYDAY EATING

Normal amounts are fine

AGES says that with normal consumption of cinnamon pastries, no risk to health is expected. Seasonal treats balance out over the year.

Simple habits

General information only, not medical advice. For advice about your own health, speak to a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified health professional.

03A QUICK FOOD CHECK

How much coumarin
is allowed?

Pick a type of food to see its legal maximum for coumarin. The bar shows how high the limit is, in milligrams per kilogram of food.

Limits from Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 on flavourings, as published on legislation.gov.uk. General information, not personal medical advice.

Food check

Choose a foodA dessertFine bakery wareBreakfast cerealSeasonal cinnamon bakeCinnamon from the jar

A dessert5 mg/kg

Desserts, such as rice pudding with cinnamon, have the lowest coumarin limit: 5 milligrams per kilogram of food.

Fine bakery ware15 mg/kg

The limit for fine bakery ware is 15 mg/kg, except for traditional or seasonal bakery ware with cinnamon mentioned in the labelling.

Breakfast cereal20 mg/kg

Breakfast cereals, including muesli, may contain up to 20 milligrams of coumarin per kilogram.

Seasonal cinnamon bake50 mg/kg

Traditional or seasonal bakery ware that mentions cinnamon in the labelling, such as cinnamon stars, has the highest limit: 50 mg/kg.

Cinnamon from the jarNo limit

There is no limit for coumarin in cinnamon sold as a spice. The BfR says cassia averages about 3,000 mg/kg, and has measured up to 10,000.

Sources: Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, Annex III (legislation.gov.uk); BfR FAQ on coumarin in cinnamon and other foods.

04TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

A pinch,
not a spoonful.

One figure on the two cinnamons,
one on how much cassia reaches the daily guide.

≈ 100× more

Coumarin in cassia compared with Ceylon

AGES measured 1,880 to 3,260 mg/kg of coumarin in cassia cinnamon, while the highest value it found in Ceylon cinnamon was 185 mg/kg.

CASSIA VS CEYLON · AGES

≈ 2g a day

Cassia that reaches the tolerable daily intake for a 60 kg adult

The BfR and EFSA set a tolerable daily intake of 0.1 mg of coumarin per kg of body weight. For a 15 kg child, the BfR puts it at about 0.5 g of cassia.

DAILY INTAKE · BfR

The BfR says slightly exceeding the tolerable daily intake for one to two weeks can be seen as safe; a risk is only possible from eating large amounts of high-coumarin cassia over a long period.

05FOUR HABITS FROM THE GUIDANCE

Keep the swirl,
watch the spoon.

None of this means giving up cinnamon buns. The advice is about large, regular amounts of cassia, mostly at home.

Know which cinnamon you have
Ground cinnamon is hard to tell apart, but some packs say Ceylon cinnamon on the label.
Look at the sticks
A Ceylon stick looks like a cut cigar, with many fine layers. Cassia is a thicker layer rolled into a single curl.
Use Ceylon if you use a lot
The BfR advises people who use large amounts of cinnamon in home cooking to choose low-coumarin Ceylon cinnamon.
Go easy for small children
AGES suggests no more than half a teaspoon (0.5 g) of cinnamon a day in children's dishes such as semolina porridge.

A half teaspoon of ground cinnamon held over a small bowl of rice pudding on a kitchen counter — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

06WHAT COUMARIN IS

The smell
of fresh hay.

Two kinds of cinnamon sticks side by side on a slate board: thin, many-layered quills next to thicker single-rolled bark — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Coumarin is a natural flavouring found in cassia cinnamon, tonka beans and woodruff, and in grasses and clover, where it gives hay its smell. Isolated coumarin must not be added to food.

Used as a medicine, even fairly low doses caused usually reversible liver effects in a small group of sensitive people. The BfR says no such cases from eating cinnamon have been described in the scientific literature.

07Questions

Questions people ask

Are cinnamon buns safe to eat?

Yes, in normal amounts. AGES says that with normal consumption of cinnamon pastries no risk to health is expected, and the BfR says the daily intake could only be exceeded by eating large amounts of such foods every day.

Why do cinnamon foods have limits but cinnamon does not?

The EU flavouring rules, kept in UK law, set coumarin limits for certain ready-to-eat foods but no general limits for natural ingredients in herbs and spices.

How can I tell Ceylon from cassia?

In powder it is hardly possible, unless the pack says Ceylon. Sticks differ: Ceylon has many fine layers like a cut cigar, while cassia is a thicker layer rolled into a single curl.

What is the tolerable daily intake for coumarin?

The BfR and EFSA set it at 0.1 mg per kg of body weight a day. For a 60 kg adult that is 6 mg, which the BfR says about 2 g of average cassia would reach.

Do cinnamon supplements count?

Yes. The BfR says cinnamon food supplements may contain high levels of coumarin, and taking cassia powder can, depending on the dose, exceed the tolerable daily intake.

08Sources

Two cinnamons,
one swirl.