Coumarin is the reason "which cinnamon?" is a compliance question, not just a flavour question. It's a naturally occurring aromatic compound that is hepatotoxic at sustained high intakes — and the two plants sold as "cinnamon" differ in coumarin content by a factor of 50 to 300.
Quick answer: True Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, Sri Lanka) contains only trace coumarin — typically 10–50 ppm (0.001–0.005%), often below common detection thresholds. Cassia varieties (C. cassia, C. burmannii, C. loureiroi) typically test at 2,000–5,000+ ppm. That difference is why Ceylon cinnamon passes European food-safety review with room to spare while cassia-based products are the ones that trigger coumarin findings.
Why regulators care about coumarin
The European Food Safety Authority set a Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 0.1 mg coumarin per kg of body weight per day. For a 60 kg adult that's 6 mg/day. With cassia at ~3,000 ppm, a heavy daily cinnamon habit — think cinnamon tea, supplements, or a child eating cinnamon-dusted porridge every morning — can approach the TDI. With Ceylon at 10–50 ppm, it effectively cannot.
Germany's BfR risk assessments in 2006 and 2012 put cassia coumarin on the regulatory map, and the EU responded with maximum levels in foods where cinnamon is used as a flavouring ingredient, under Regulation (EC) 1334/2008 (retained in UK law post-Brexit):
| Food category | Coumarin limit |
|---|---|
| Traditional / seasonal bakery (e.g. cinnamon stars) | 50 mg/kg |
| Breakfast cereals incl. muesli | 20 mg/kg |
| Fine bakery ware (other) | 15 mg/kg |
| Desserts | 5 mg/kg |
Note what these limits mean for a manufacturer: the limit applies to the finished food, so your effective cinnamon dosage ceiling depends entirely on the coumarin content of the cinnamon you buy. Formulate with 3,000 ppm cassia and a 15 mg/kg bakery limit caps cinnamon at ~0.5% of the recipe. Formulate with 20 ppm Ceylon and the coumarin limit stops being the binding constraint at all.
Ceylon vs cassia: the numbers
| Parameter | Ceylon (C. verum) | Cassia (C. cassia / burmannii) |
|---|---|---|
| Typical coumarin | 10–50 ppm (trace) | 2,000–5,000+ ppm |
| Origin | Sri Lanka (also S. India) | China, Indonesia, Vietnam |
| Quill structure | Many thin, papery layers rolled like a cigar | Single thick bark layer, hard scroll |
| Colour | Light tan-brown | Reddish dark brown |
| Flavour | Delicate, citrusy-sweet | Intense, hot-sweet |
| Price | 4–10x cassia | Commodity |
The price gap is exactly why substitution and blending happen. Ground cinnamon is where the risk concentrates — once bark is powdered, the visual cues disappear, and "Ceylon" powder cut with cassia is undetectable without a lab.
How coumarin is actually tested
Coumarin is quantified by HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography), reported in mg/kg (ppm). A serious Ceylon supplier reports coumarin on the Certificate of Analysis for every lot — not as "complies" but as a number. Because true Ceylon runs so low, the result often reads "<LOQ" (below limit of quantification) or a single-digit-to-double-digit ppm figure. If a "Ceylon" CoA shows hundreds of ppm, you're looking at cassia blending.
For species verification beyond coumarin, labs can add cinnamaldehyde profiling or DNA barcoding, but for import purposes the coumarin number plus origin documentation (Sri Lankan export permit for true Ceylon) is the standard evidence pack.
A buyer's specification for Ceylon cinnamon
If you're procuring Ceylon cinnamon for the EU or UK, your RFQ should include exactly these lines:
Species: Cinnamomum verum (syn. C. zeylanicum), Sri Lankan origin
Grade: Alba / C5 / C4 quills, or powder with quill-grade traceability
Coumarin (HPLC): reported in ppm on CoA, each lot
Moisture: max 12%
Volatile oil: min 1.0%
ETO: not detected
Salmonella: absent in 25g
CoA: NABL or ISO 17025-accredited lab, dated within 90 days
SpiceModo's Ceylon cinnamon
We supply true Cinnamomum verum quills (including Alba grade) and powder with coumarin reported in ppm on every NABL-accredited CoA — well within EU and UK limits — plus ETO non-detect certificates for European clearance. See the Ceylon Cinnamon product page for full specifications, or read our B2B guide to importing spices for documentation and Incoterm details.
Want the coumarin number before you commit?
We'll send a recent CoA and a quill sample so your lab can verify species and coumarin content.
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