FDA Approved Natural Food Colorings
Which natural food colorings are approved by the FDA?
The FDA doesn't have a legal category called "natural" colors. What people usually mean is the list of color additives exempt from certification in 21 CFR Part 73. For food, that's Subpart A. The current text (eCFR issue dated 2026-09-11) has 45 color listings plus one section on diluents. 35 of them are permitted in human food and 10 only in animal or fish feed. Being exempt from certification is not the same as being natural: the list also includes minerals and specified chemicals, such as synthetic iron oxide, titanium dioxide and mica-based pearlescent pigments.
Approach: I read every section of the current 21 CFR Part 73, Subpart A (Foods). I didn't review the certified (FD&C) colors in Part 74, food-additive or GRAS listings, or FDA policy on "natural" labeling claims.
1. Human food, "foods generally" (19)
These may be used in food generally, but not in foods that have a standard of identity unless that standard allows added color. Limits are good manufacturing practice (GMP) unless a figure is given.
| § | Color additive |
|---|---|
| 73.30 | Annatto extract [1] |
| 73.40 | Dehydrated beets (beet powder) [2] |
| 73.75 | Canthaxanthin, up to 30 mg per lb of food or per pint of liquid (feed uses also listed) [3] |
| 73.85 | Caramel [4] |
| 73.90 | β-Apo-8′-carotenal, up to 15 mg per lb or per pint [5] |
| 73.95 | β-Carotene [6] |
| 73.100 | Cochineal extract; carmine (the food label must declare it) [7] |
| 73.140 | Toasted partially defatted cooked cottonseed flour [8] |
| 73.250 | Fruit juice [9] |
| 73.260 | Vegetable juice [10] |
| 73.300 | Carrot oil [11] |
| 73.340 | Paprika [12] |
| 73.345 | Paprika oleoresin [13] |
| 73.450 | Riboflavin [14] |
| 73.500 | Saffron [15] |
| 73.575 | Titanium dioxide, up to 1% by weight [16] |
| 73.585 | Tomato lycopene extract / concentrate [17] |
| 73.600 | Turmeric [18] |
| 73.615 | Turmeric oleoresin [19] |
2. Human food, specific foods only (16)
| § | Color additive | Permitted use |
|---|---|---|
| 73.69 | Butterfly pea flower extract | A listed range of beverages, candy, gum, dairy, cereals, snacks and similar foods [20] |
| 73.70 | Calcium carbonate | Dietary supplement tablets and capsules, candies and mints, inks on chewing gum [21] |
| 73.80 | Calcium phosphate | Ready-to-eat chicken (≤1.5%), white candy melts (≤0.25%), doughnut sugar (≤2.0%), sugar for coated candies (≤5.25%) [22] |
| 73.125 | Sodium copper chlorophyllin | Citrus-based dry beverage mixes, ≤0.2% of the dry mix [23] |
| 73.160 | Ferrous gluconate | Ripe olives [24] |
| 73.165 | Ferrous lactate | Ripe olives [25] |
| 73.167 | Galdieria extract blue | Beverages, dairy, cereal coatings, candy, frostings, frozen desserts and other listed foods [26] |
| 73.168 | Gardenia (genipin) blue | Sport drinks, flavored water, fruit drinks and ades, ready-to-drink teas, hard and soft candy [27] |
| 73.169 | Grape color extract | Nonbeverage food [28] |
| 73.170 | Grape skin extract (enocianina) | Still and carbonated drinks, ades, beverage bases, alcoholic beverages [29] |
| 73.200 | Synthetic iron oxide | Sausage casings (≤0.10%), candy, mints and gum, dietary supplements [30] |
| 73.225 | Jagua (genipin-glycine) blue | Dairy and dairy-alternative products, frozen desserts, cereals, chips, candy, drinks, icings and similar foods [31] |
| 73.297 | Myoglobin | Plant-based ground meat and poultry analogues, ≤2% [32] |
| 73.350 | Mica-based pearlescent pigments | Cereals, confections, candies, gum and supplements (≤1.25%); certain alcoholic beverages and mixers (≤0.07%) [33] |
| 73.520 | Soy leghemoglobin | Ground beef analogues, ≤0.8% [34] |
| 73.530 | Spirulina extract | Confections, frostings, frozen desserts, beverages, yogurts, cereals, sauces, supplement coatings and other listed foods [35] |
3. Animal or fish feed only (10)
- Salmonid fish feed (to color the flesh):
- Chicken feed (for yellow skin and egg color):
- Salt for animal feed: ultramarine blue, ≤0.5% of the salt [45]
Section 73.1 is not a color. It lists the diluents allowed in food color additive mixtures [46].
If it helps, I can next set these against the certified FD&C colors in Part 74.
How do they have to be labeled?
There are two layers of labeling. The color additive itself must carry a label under 21 CFR 70.25. Any food it is added to must declare it in the ingredient statement under 21 CFR 101.22(k). The colors exempt from certification (Part 73) get more flexible wording on food labels than the certified FD&C colors. Cochineal extract and carmine are the exception: they must always be named.
Approach: I couldn't query the regulation datasets this time, and the eCFR site blocked access. The wording below is from the GPO annual edition of 21 CFR (April 1, 2025) on govinfo.gov, which may predate the current eCFR text. I checked the cochineal/carmine section of Part 73 for its own labeling rule, but not the other Part 73 listings.
1. Label of the color additive itself (21 CFR 70.25)
Every color additive must be labeled "with sufficient information to assure their safe use." The label must give:
- (a)(1) The name of the straight color, or the name of each ingredient if it is a mixture.
- (a)(2) A general use limitation, such as "for food use only."
- (a)(3) The amount of each straight color, where the regulation sets a quantitative limit.
- (a)(4) An expiration date, if stability data require one.
- (b) Directions for use that keep the color within its limit, where a tolerance applies. In Part 73 this covers, for example, the mg-per-lb caps on canthaxanthin and β-apo-8′-carotenal and the 1% cap on titanium dioxide.
- (c) Any other use limitation set in the listing.
- (d) A certification lot number. This applies only to colors that are not exempt from certification, so Part 73 colors don't need one.
Source: 21 CFR 70.25, 2025 ed.
2. Label of the finished food (21 CFR 101.22(k))
- Main rule: a food with any added coloring must declare it in the ingredient statement.
- Colors exempt from certification, (k)(2): unless a Part 73 listing requires the color's common or usual name, it may be declared as:
- "Artificial Color," "Artificial Color Added," "Color Added," or an equally informative term; or
- "Colored with " or " color," with the blank filled in with the name listed in Part 73 (for example, "Colored with annatto extract").
- Certified colors, (k)(1), for comparison: these must be declared by their Part 74 or Part 82 name. "FD&C" and "No." can be dropped, but a lake must be named as one (for example, "Blue 1 Lake").
- Butter, cheese and ice cream, (k)(3): added coloring need not be declared unless a Part 73 or Part 74 regulation requires it. Voluntary declaration is recommended.
- Foods under §§ 105.62 and 105.65: colorings must be declared as those sections require.
- Terminology: § 101.22(a)(4) defines "artificial color" as any color additive under § 70.3(f). That is why a plant-derived color like beet powder may still be declared as "Artificial Color" under (k)(2).
Source: 21 CFR 101.22, 2025 ed.
3. Cochineal extract and carmine (21 CFR 73.100(d))
- (d)(1) The color additive and any coloring mixtures made from it must be labeled under § 70.25.
- (d)(2) Human foods that contain it, including butter, cheese and ice cream, must name "cochineal extract" or "carmine" in the ingredient statement under § 101.4. A generic term like "Color Added" is not enough.
Source: 21 CFR 73.100, 2025 ed.
I can next go through the other Part 73, Subpart A listings for their own labeling clauses, or check the current eCFR text against this 2025 edition.
What about the UK and EU?
In both the EU and Great Britain, "natural" colours aren't a legal category any more than they are in the US. All colours, whatever their source, sit on one list of authorised additives under Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 (in GB, the assimilated version of it). The main differences from the US are three:
- Colouring foods. Food extracts that are not selectively extracted for their pigment are treated as food ingredients, not colour additives.
- Ingredient list. Colours must be declared as "Colour" followed by the specific name or E number. There is no generic "Color Added" option.
- Titanium dioxide (E 171). It is withdrawn in the EU and Northern Ireland but still authorised in GB.
Approach: The EU and GB food-additive and labelling datasets didn't respond this time, and EUR-Lex wouldn't load. So the legal wording below comes from the GB versions on legislation.gov.uk, the FSA list on GOV.UK and the Commission's own pages. I couldn't open the consolidated EU text, including its own list of colours (Annex II Part B).
1. Where the line falls between colour and food
In Annex I of Regulation 1333/2008 (GB text), colours "include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such." Extracts made by "selective extraction of the pigments relative to the nutritive or aromatic constituents are colours within the meaning of this Regulation" (Annex I).
In practice:
- A selectively extracted beet or paprika pigment is an additive and needs an E number.
- A non-selective concentrate ("colouring food") is labelled as an ordinary ingredient.
- In 2013 the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health endorsed guidance notes for telling the two apart, built around an "enrichment" factor (JRC report).
2. Authorised colours (GB list, FSA, published 25 June 2026)
The list has 42 entries (FSA, approved additives and E numbers). It doesn't say whether each colour is natural or synthetic.
| E no. | Colour | E no. | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| E100 | Curcumin | E151 | Brilliant Black BN; Black PN |
| E101(i) | Riboflavin | E153 | Vegetable carbon |
| E101(ii) | Riboflavin-5'-phosphate | E155 | Brown HT |
| E102 | Tartrazine | E160a | Carotenes |
| E104 | Quinoline yellow | E160b(i) | Annatto, bixin |
| E110 | Sunset Yellow FCF; Orange Yellow S | E160b(ii) | Annatto, norbixin |
| E120 | Cochineal; carminic acid; carmines | E160c | Paprika extract; capsanthin; capsorubin |
| E122 | Azorubine; carmoisine | E160d | Lycopene |
| E123 | Amaranth | E160e | Beta-apo-8'-carotenal (C30) |
| E124 | Ponceau 4R; Cochineal Red A | E161b | Lutein |
| E127 | Erythrosine | E161g | Canthaxanthin |
| E129 | Allura Red AC | E162 | Beetroot Red; betanin |
| E131 | Patent Blue V | E163 | Anthocyanins |
| E132 | Indigotine; Indigo Carmine | E170 | Calcium carbonate |
| E133 | Brilliant Blue FCF | E171 | Titanium dioxide (GB only, see below) |
| E140 | Chlorophylls and chlorophyllins | E172 | Iron oxides and hydroxides |
| E141 | Copper complexes of chlorophyll and chlorophyllins | E173 | Aluminium |
| E142 | Green S | E174 | Silver |
| E150a-d | Caramels (plain, caustic sulphite, ammonia, sulphite ammonia) | E175 | Gold |
| E180 | Litholrubine BK |
EU difference:
- EU: Regulation (EU) 2022/63 withdrew E 171 for use in food. It entered into force on 7 February 2022, and foods containing E 171 could still be placed on the market until 7 August 2022. It stays authorised in medicines, subject to a review (European Commission, re-evaluation).
- Northern Ireland: the FSA says E 171 "is not permitted for use in Northern Ireland" but remains authorised in GB (FSA).
Each listing also has its own food-category conditions and maximum levels in Annex II Part E, which I couldn't read this time.
3. Labelling
Foods containing colours (ingredient list). Annex VII Part C of the Food Information to Consumers Regulation 1169/2011 (GB text, version 27 February 2025) requires additives to be "designated by the name of that category, followed by their specific name or, if appropriate, E number." "Colour" is one of the categories (Annex VII). So the label reads, for example, "Colour: paprika extract" or "Colour: E160c". Unlike 21 CFR 101.22(k), there is no "Artificial Color" or "Color Added" option.
Warning for six colours (Article 24 and Annex V). Foods containing these colours must carry the statement "[name or E number of the colour(s)]: may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children" (Art. 24; Annex V):
- Sunset yellow (E 110)
- Quinoline yellow (E 104)
- Carmoisine (E 122)
- Allura red (E 129)
- Tartrazine (E 102)
- Ponceau 4R (E 124)
The warning isn't needed for health marking on meat, stamping or decorating eggshells, or drinks over 1.2% alcohol by volume. None of the colours that come from plants, animals or minerals is on this list. The Commission confirms that the EU regulation's Annex V also contains "additives labelling information for certain food colours" (Commission, EU rules).
Colours sold as such. This is the counterpart of 21 CFR 70.25.
- Sold to businesses (Article 22(1), GB text). The label must give:
- the name and/or E number;
- "for food", "restricted use in food" or a more specific intended use;
- special storage or use conditions;
- a batch or lot mark;
- instructions for use where needed;
- the manufacturer's, packager's or seller's name and address;
- maximum quantities, or enough information for the buyer to comply with any quantitative limits (Art. 22).
- Sold to consumers (Article 23). The label must give the name and E number, the "for food" statement or equivalent, and information needed for safe use (Art. 23).
I didn't find a UK or EU rule like the US one that makes cochineal or carmine be named even where a generic term would otherwise be allowed. That doesn't matter much here, because the specific name or E number is always required. GB and EU texts have been amended separately since 2020, and I could only read the GB wording, so I can't confirm the current EU wording matches it.
I can try again for the EU Annex II Part E conditions of use for particular colours (for example spirulina, beetroot red or paprika extract) when the EU sources are reachable.