Brilliant black (Black PN)

E number E151INS 151CAS 2519-30-4

Used as a colour.

Brilliant Black PN is a synthetic black dye used in the European Union in sauces, preserved fish and confectionery, usually to deepen other colours rather than on its own. It is not permitted in food in the United States.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Brilliant black (Black PN) 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

29 food categories

highest permitted level 530 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.6.1 Unripened cheese — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.6.5 Cheese analogues — 100 mg/kg
  • 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 150 mg/kg
  • 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 150 mg/kg
  • 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.5 — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 150 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 — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) or retort pouch vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 300 mg/kg
  • 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 500 mg/kg
  • 06.3 Breakfast cereals, including rolled oats — 160 mg/kg
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 150 mg/kg
  • 07.2 Fine bakery wares (sweet, salty, savoury) and mixes — 200 mg/kg
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 160 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — 100 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 100 mg/kg
  • 09.3.3 Salmon substitutes, caviar and other fish roe products — 100 mg/kg
  • 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 290 mg/kg
  • 12.4 Mustards — 300 mg/kg
  • 12.6 Sauces and like products — 500 mg/kg
  • 13.6 Food supplements — 530 mg/kg
  • 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 10 mg/kg
  • 14.2.6 Distilled spirituous beverages containing more than 15% alcohol — 200 mg/kg
  • 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low-alcoholic refreshers) — 30 mg/kg
  • 15.1 Snacks - potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes) — 200 mg/kg
  • 15.2 Processed nuts, including coated nuts and nut mixtures (with e.g. dried fruit) — 100 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 151and 28 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

A tetrazo dye built from petroleum-derived aromatic intermediates through two successive diazotisation and coupling steps.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
2519-30-4
InChIKey
GMMAPXRGRVJYJY-UHFFFAOYSA-J
PubChem
CID 17293

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E151

INS number

  • 151

CAS registry number

  • 2519-30-4

Other names

  • 1743 Black
  • 2WPR32U0CP
  • ACID BLACK 3 (NAPHTHOL BLACK C.I. 27260)
  • AGKKBBSOKGLVTM-HZGWVLLFSA-J
  • Black BN
  • Black PN
  • Black PN (~80%)
  • Black PN (~80per cent)
  • black-pn
  • Blue Black BN
  • Brillant Black 1
  • Brilliant Acid Black BN Extra Pure A
  • Brilliant Acid Black BNA Export
  • BRILLIANT BLACK (BLACK PN)
  • Brilliant black 1
  • Brilliant Black A
  • Brilliant Black BN
  • Brilliant Black N. FQ
  • Brilliant Black NAF
  • Brilliant Black PN
  • BRILLIANTBLACKBN
  • Brilliantschwarz BN
  • C.I. FOOD BLACK 1
  • C.I. Food Black 1, tetrasodium salt
  • C.I. Food Black-1
  • CCRIS 113
  • CERN brilantni PN [Czech]
  • CERN potravinarska 1 [Czech]
  • Certicol Black PNW
  • CI Food Black 1
  • Cilefa Black B
  • COLOUR INDEX NO. 28440
  • E 151
  • E151; Brilliant Black BN (E151)
  • Edicol Supra Black BN
  • Food black 1
  • Hexacol Black PN
  • INS NO.151
  • INS-151
  • L Black 8000
  • L-Schwarz 1
  • Melan Black
  • Noir brillant BN
  • XYLENE BLACK
  • Xylene Black F

Systematic names

  • 1,7-Naphthalenedisulfonic acid, 4-(acetylamino)-5-hydroxy-6-((7-sulfo-4-((4-sulfophenyl)azo)-1-naphthalenyl)azo)-, tetrasodium salt
  • 1,7-Naphthalenedisulfonic acid, 4-acetamido-5-hydroxy-6-((7-sulfo-4-((p-sulfophenyl)azo)-1-naphthyl)azo)-, tetrasodium salt
  • 2-(4-(p-Sulfophenylazo)-7-sulfo-1-naphthylazo)-8-acetamido-1-naphthol-3,5-di-sulonic acid, tetrasodium salt
  • Sodium 4-acetamido-5-hydroxy-6-((7-sulfonato-4-((4-sulfonatophenyl)diazenyl)naphthalen-1-yl)diazenyl)naphthalene-1,7-disulfonate
  • Tetrasodium 1-acetamido-2-hydroxy-3-(4-((4-sulphonatophenylazo)-7-sulphonato-1-naphthylazo))naphthalene-4,6-disulphonate
  • tetrasodium 4-(acetylamino)-5-hydroxy-6-[(E)-{7-sulfonato-4-[(E)-(4-sulfonatophenyl)diazenyl]naphthalen-1-yl}diazenyl]naphthalene-1,7-disulfonate
  • Tetrasodium;(6E)-4-acetamido-5-oxo-6-[[7-sulfonato-4-[(4-sulfonatophenyl)diazenyl]naphthalen-1-yl]hydrazinylidene]naphthalene-1,7-disulfonate
  • tetrasodium;4-acetamido-5-hydroxy-6-[[7-sulfonato-4-[(4-sulfonatophenyl)diazenyl]naphthalen-1-yl]diazenyl]naphthalene-1,7-disulfonate

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADI5 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/brilliant-black-black-pn.json