E123

Functions: en:Colour

Amaranth, FD&C Red No. 2, E123, C.I. Food Red 9, Acid Red 27, Azorubin S, or C.I. 16185 is a dark red to purple azo dye used as a food dye and to color cosmetics. The name was taken from amaranth grain, a plant distinguished by its red color and edible protein-rich seeds. Amaranth is an anionic dye. It can be applied to natural and synthetic fibers, leather, paper, and phenol-formaldehyde resins. As a food additive it has E number E123. Amaranth usually comes as a trisodium salt. It has the appearance of reddish-brown, dark red to purple water-soluble powder that decomposes at 120 °C without melting. Its water solution has absorption maximum at about 520 nm. Like all azo dyes, Amaranth was, during the middle of the 20th century, made from coal tar; modern synthetics are more likely to be made from petroleum byproducts.Since 1976 Amaranth has been banned in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration -FDA- as a suspected carcinogen. Its use is still legal in some countries, notably in the United Kingdom where it is most commonly used to give Glacé cherries their distinctive color. - Wikipedia

EFSA evaluation: Scientific Opinion on the re‐evaluation of Amaranth -E 123- as a food additive (2010/07/26)

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has determined that no population groups has more than 5% of members at risk of consuming more than the acceptable daily intake of E123.

To evaluate your exposure to the E123 food additive, you can browse our list of products that contain it. See the list of products with E123 below.