Brown HT

E number E155INS 155CAS 4553-89-3

Used as a colour.

Brown HT is a synthetic brown azo dye used in the European Union, mainly in chocolate-flavoured baked goods where it substitutes for cocoa colour. It is not permitted in food in the United States.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Brown HT 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

30 food categories

highest permitted level 500 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.6.1 Unripened cheese — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.7 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
  • 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.5 — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.7 Candied fruit — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 30 mg/kg
  • 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 50 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 300 mg/kg
  • 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 50 mg/kg
  • 06.3 Breakfast cereals, including rolled oats — 30 mg/kg
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 30 mg/kg
  • 07.2 Fine bakery wares (sweet, salty, savoury) and mixes — 50 mg/kg
  • 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 290 mg/kg
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 240 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
  • 12.5 Soups and broths — 50 mg/kg
  • 12.6 Sauces and like products — 500 mg/kg
  • 12.6.2 Non-emulsified sauces (e.g. ketchup, cheese sauce, cream sauce, brown gravy) — 50 mg/kg
  • 13.6 Food supplements — 300 mg/kg
  • 14.2.2 Cider and perry — 200 mg/kg
  • 14.2.4 Wines (other than grape) — 200 mg/kg
  • 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low-alcoholic refreshers) — 200 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 155and 29 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

A bisazo dye synthesised from petroleum-derived aromatic intermediates.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
4553-89-3

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E155

INS number

  • 155

CAS registry number

  • 4553-89-3

Other names

  • BROWN HT
  • CI Food Brown 3
  • E 155

Systematic names

  • Disodium;4-[(2E)-2-[(5E)-3-(hydroxymethyl)-4, 6-dioxo-5-[(4-sulfonatonaphthalen-1-yl)hydrazinylidene]cyclohex-2-en-1-ylidene]hydrazinyl]naphthalene-1-sulfonate

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADI1.5 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/brown-ht.json