Amaranth

E number E123INS 123CAS 915-67-3

Used as a colour.

Amaranth is a synthetic dark red azo dye. It was certified in the United States as FD&C Red No. 2 until the FDA revoked that listing in 1976; it remains permitted in the European Union for a small number of uses, chiefly aperitif wines and fish roe.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Amaranth by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationNot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

12 food categories

highest permitted level 100 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 50 mg/kg
  • 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 25 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.5 — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.7 Candied fruit — 50 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 80 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.3 Vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds in vinegar, oil, brine, or soybean sauce — 50 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 100 mg/kg
  • 06.4.3 Pre-cooked pastas and noodles and like products — 100 mg/kg
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 80 mg/kg
  • 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 30 mg/kg
  • 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low-alcoholic refreshers) — 100 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 123and 11 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

A trisulfonated azo dye synthesised from petroleum-derived aromatic intermediates. It shares a name with the amaranth plant but has no connection to it.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
915-67-3
InChIKey
WLDHEUZGFKACJH-UHFFFAOYSA-K
PubChem
CID 13506

Every name it appears under

68 recorded names. A label may use any of them.

E number

  • E123

INS number

  • 123

CAS registry number

  • 3567-69-9
  • 915-67-3

Other names

  • Acid Amaranth
  • Acid Amaranth I
  • Acid Amaranth N
  • Acid red 27
  • Acilan Red SE
  • Aizen Amaranth
  • Amacid Amaranth
  • AMARANTH
  • Amaranth (dye)
  • Amaranth A
  • Amaranth B
  • Amaranth BPC
  • Amaranth Dye (80%)
  • Amaranth Extra
  • Amaranth Lake
  • Amaranth R
  • Amaranth S
  • Amaranth USP
  • Amaranth WD
  • Amaranthe
  • Azo Red R
  • Azo Rubine SF
  • Azorubin S
  • Azorubine S
  • Azorubine, Carmoisine
  • Bordeaux S
  • C.I. Food Red 9
  • Calcocid amaranth
  • Canacert Amaranth
  • CI Food Red 9
  • Daishiki Amaranth
  • Dolkwal Amaranth
  • Dye Red Raspberry
  • E 123
  • Edicol Amaranth
  • Eurocert Amaranth
  • Fast Red
  • FD & C Red No. 2
  • Food red 2
  • Food Red 9
  • HD Amaranth B
  • Hidacid Amaranth
  • Hispacid Red AM
  • Java Amaranth
  • Kayaku Amaranth
  • Kiton Rubine S
  • Maple Amaranth
  • Naphthol Red B
  • Naphthol Red C
  • Naphthol Red O
  • Naphthol Red S
  • Naphthol Red SI
  • Neklacid Red A
  • Rakuto Amaranth
  • Red No. 2
  • S-Azo Rubine
  • San-ei Amaranth
  • Shikiso Amaranth
  • Takaoka Amaranth
  • Tertracid Red A
  • Toyo Amaranth
  • Whortleberry Red

Systematic names

  • disodium (3E)-4-oxo-3-[(4-sulfonatonaphthalen-1-yl)hydrazinylidene]naphthalene-1-sulfonate
  • Sodium;(4Z)-3-oxo-4-[(4-sulfonaphthalen-1-yl)hydrazinylidene]naphthalene-2,7-disulfonic acid

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADI4 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSA FEEDAP2012
ADI4 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSAnot identified in the dataset

Evidence and how bodies read it

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

Sources for this page

  • gsfa retrieved 2026-09-07

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

Machine-readable:/api/v1/additives/amaranth.json