Alkanet is a red dye from the root of Alkanna tinctoria, a borage relative. It is one of the older plant colours and is little used now.

What is Alkanet used for in food?

It is listed as a colour — the role Canada assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.

Where is Alkanet permitted?

Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand and Canada permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.

Yes. Alkanet is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Alkanet: legal status by country — Food Additive Index

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Alkanet by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New Zealand	Permitted, with conditions	47 food categories no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) Show every food category 0.2 Colourings — GMP 0.3 Flavourings — GMP 1.1.2 Liquid milk products and flavoured liquid milk — GMP 1.2.2 Fermented milk products and rennetted milk products — GMP 1.3 Condensed milk and evaporated milk — GMP 1.4.2 Cream products (flavoured, whipped, thickened, sour cream etc) — GMP 1.5 Dried milk, milk powder, cream powder — GMP 1.6 Cheese and cheese products — GMP 11.1.1 Rainbow sugar — GMP 11.4 Tabletop sweeteners — GMP 12.1.2 Reduced sodium salt mixture — GMP 12.1.3 Salt substitute — GMP 12.3 Vinegars and related products — GMP 12.5 Yeast and yeast products — GMP 12.6 Vegetable protein products — GMP 13.3 Formulated meal replacements and formulated supplementary foods — GMP 13.4 Formulated supplementary sports foods — GMP 13.5 Food for special medical purposes — GMP 14.1.1.2 Carbonated, mineralised and soda waters — GMP 14.1.2.1 Fruit and vegetable juices — GMPFor juice separated by other than mechanical means only. 14.1.2.2 Fruit and vegetable juice products — GMP 14.1.3 Water based flavoured drinks — GMP 14.1.4 Formulated Beverages — GMP 14.2.3 Wine based drinks and reduced alcohol wines — GMP 14.2.4.1 Fruit wine products and vegetable wine products — GMP 14.2.5 Spirits and liqueurs — GMP 14.3 Alcoholic beverages not included in item 14.2 — GMP 2.1 Edible oils essentially free of water — GMPNot for olive oil. 2.2.1.2 Butter products — GMP 2.2.1.3 Margarine and similar products — GMP 2.2.2 Oil emulsions (<80% oil) — GMP 20 Foods not included in items 0 to 14 — GMP 3 Ice cream and edible ices — GMP 4.3 Processed fruits and vegetables — GMP 5.1 Chocolate and cocoa products — GMPPermitted on the surface of chocolate only. 5.2 Sugar confectionery — GMP 5.4 Icings and frostings — GMP 6.3 Processed cereal and meal products — GMP 6.4 Flour products (including noodles and pasta) — GMP 7 Breads and bakery products — GMP 8.2 Processed meat, poultry and game products in whole cuts or pieces — GMP 8.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products, other than products listed in item 8.3.2 — GMPNot for sausage or sausage meat containing raw, unprocessed meat. 8.4 Edible casings — GMP 8.5 Animal protein products — GMP 9.2 Processed fish and fish products — GMP 9.3 Semi preserved fish and fish products — GMP 9.4 Fully preserved fish including canned fish products — GMP	Food Standards Code, Schedule 15, S15—5and 46 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
CanadaHealth Canada	Permitted	no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) 3 permitted uses Show every permitted use In: Apple and (naming the fruit or fruits) jam; Bread; Butter; Concentrated (naming the fruit) juice, except frozen concentrated orange juice; Fig marmalade with pectin; Fish roe (caviar); Ice cream mix; Ice milk mix; Icing sugar; (Naming the fruit or fruits) jam with pectin; (Naming the fruit or fruits) jelly with pectin; Liqueur; Lobster paste; (Naming the flavour) milk; (Naming the flavour) partly skimmed milk; (Naming the flavour) partly skimmed milk with added milk solids; (Naming the flavour) skim milk; (Naming the flavour) skim milk with added milk solids; Pickles and relishes; Pineapple marmalade with pectin; Rhubarb and (naming the fruit or fruits) jam; Sherbet; Smoked fish; Tomato catsup. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item A.1(a) In: Blend of prepared fish and prepared meat as set out in paragraph 18.1.3(g) of Volume 18 of the Food Compositional Standards Document. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0122. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item A.1(b) In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item A.1(c)	Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3)and 2 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSA	No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards Scotland	No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
JapanConsumer Affairs Agency	No listing matchedThis site imports only Japan’s list of designated additives (Appended Table 1 to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act), matched by English name. Existing additives, natural flavouring agents and ordinary foods used as additives are permitted outside that list and are not imported, so an empty row does not show that Japan does not permit the substance.
South KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug Safety	No listing matchedThis site imports Part III of South Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, matched by CAS number, then INS number, then exact name. Mixed preparations and sanitisers are not imported, and an entry whose identifiers disagreed with a page’s is held for review, so an empty row does not show that South Korea does not permit the substance.
United StatesFood and Drug Administration	Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

How much is permitted

A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.

Australia and New Zealand	—	47 GMP
Canada	—	3 GMP

No regulator sets a figure for Alkanet. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.

What it is made from

Extracted from the dried root, whose pigments are naphthoquinones and dissolve in fat and alcohol rather than water.

Vegan
Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

Every name it appears under

1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.

Other names

Alkanet

Hazard reference values

No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.

Evidence and how bodies read it

Studies, and the differing conclusions regulators drew from them, are curated rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Common questions

Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.

What is Alkanet?: Alkanet is a red dye from the root of Alkanna tinctoria, a borage relative. It is one of the older plant colours and is little used now.
What is Alkanet used for in food?: It is listed as a colour — the role Canada assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Where is Alkanet permitted?: Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand and Canada permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Is Alkanet vegan?: Yes. Alkanet is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

anz retrieved 2026-10-17
ca retrieved 2026-10-17

Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.

Machine-readable: a JSON record of this additive is given on request —how to ask for access.

Follow changes to Alkanet:Atom feed — regulatory events, and any change the weekly refresh detects in its provisions.