Food & Drink / Compounds / Manganese oxide (MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3)

Manganese oxide (MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3) in food: ingestion safety

Moderate risk

GHS Warning classification. Harmful if swallowed. Oral LD50 3478 mg/kg (rat).

What is manganese oxide (mno, mno2, mn2o3)?

The IUPAC name is dioxomanganese.

Also known as: dioxomanganese, Manganese dioxide, Manganese(IV) oxide, Manganese peroxide.

IUPAC name
dioxomanganese
CAS number
1313-13-9
Molecular formula
MnO2
Molecular weight
86.937 g/mol
SMILES
[O--].[O--].[Mn+4]
PubChem CID
14801

Risk for people

Moderate risk

GHS Warning classification. Harmful if swallowed. Oral LD50 3478 mg/kg (rat).

Regulatory consensus

2 regulatory and scientific bodies have classified Manganese oxide (MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3). The classifications differ — that's the data.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
EPA CTX / Genetox—Genotoxicity: negative (Ames: negative, 0 positive / 8 negative reports)
EPA CTX / Genetox—Genotoxicity: negative (Ames: negative, 0 positive / 8 negative reports)

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where you encounter manganese oxide (mno, mno2, mn2o3)

  • Contaminated Water — Mining site runoff, Industrial discharge, Old infrastructure
  • Food Chain — Fish from contaminated waters, Crops in contaminated soil

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Manganese oxide (MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3):

  • Tocopherol (Vitamin E) based antioxidants
    Trade-offs: Lower thermal stability than synthetic BHT/BHA for some polymer applications.
    Relative cost: 2-5× conventional

Frequently asked questions

Is manganese oxide (mno, mno2, mn2o3) safe for you?

GHS Warning classification. Harmful if swallowed. Oral LD50 3478 mg/kg (rat).

What products contain manganese oxide (mno, mno2, mn2o3)?

Manganese oxide (MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3) appears in: Mining site runoff (Contaminated water); Industrial discharge (Contaminated water); Fish from contaminated waters (Food chain); Crops in contaminated soil (Food chain).

See Manganese oxide (MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3) in the food app

Look up products containing manganese oxide (mno, mno2, mn2o3), compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in food View raw API data

Sources (3)
  1. PubChem Compound CID 14801 — database
  2. EPA CompTox Chemicals Dashboard — DTXSID6042109 — epa
  3. ATSDR Toxicological Profile — CAS 1313-13-9 — reference

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for veterinary, medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →