Carmines

E number E120INS 120CAS 1390-65-4

Used as a colour.

Carmine is a crimson colouring obtained from cochineal insects. It is used in confectionery, drinks, dairy products, preserved meats and cosmetics, and is one of the few widely used colours that is not synthetic.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Carmines 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

76 food categories

highest permitted level 11,500 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.1 Ripened cheese, includes rind — 125 mg/kg
  • 01.6.4.2 Flavoured processed cheese, including containing fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. — 100 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
  • 02.2.2 Fat spreads, dairy fat spreads and blended spreads — 500 mg/kg
  • 02.3 Fat emulsions mainly of type oil-in-water, including mixed and/or flavoured products based on fat emulsions — 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 — 150 mg/kg
  • 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit — 500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 300 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.5 — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.6 Fruit-based spreads (e.g. chutney) excluding products of food category — 500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.7 Candied fruit — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.8 Fruit preparations, including pulp, purees, fruit toppings and coconut milk — 500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 150 mg/kg
  • 04.2.1.2 Surface-treated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — 500 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
  • 04.2.2.5 Vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweed, and nut and seed purees and spreads (e.g. peanut butter) — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.6 Vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweed, and nut and seed pulps and preparations (e.g. vegetable desserts and sauces, candied vegetables) other than food category 04.2.2.5 — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.1.2 Cocoa mixes (syrups) — 300 mg/kg
  • 05.1.5 Imitation chocolate, chocolate substitute products — 300 mg/kg
  • 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 300 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 500 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 — 200 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) — 150 mg/kg
  • 06.6 Batters (e.g. for breading or batters for fish or poultry) — 500 mg/kg
  • 06.8.1 Soybean-based beverages — 100 mg/kg
  • 07.1.2 Crackers, excluding sweet crackers — 200 mg/kg
  • 07.1.4 Bread-type products, including bread stuffing and bread crumbs — 500 mg/kg
  • 07.2 Fine bakery wares (sweet, salty, savoury) and mixes — 200 mg/kg
  • 08.1.1 Fresh meat, poultry and game, whole pieces or cuts — 500 mg/kg
  • 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — 100 mg/kg
  • 08.2 Processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts — 500 mg/kg
  • 08.3.1.1 Cured (including salted) non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 200 mg/kg
  • 08.3.1.2 Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 100 mg/kg
  • 08.3.1.3 Fermented non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 100 mg/kg
  • 08.3.2 Heat-treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 100 mg/kg
  • 08.3.3 Frozen processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 500 mg/kg
  • 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 11,500 mg/kg
  • 09.1.1 Fresh fish — 300 mg/kg
  • 09.1.2 Fresh molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 100 mg/kg
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 250 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 300 mg/kg
  • 09.3.1 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms, marinated and/or in jelly — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.3.2 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms, pickled and/or in brine — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.3.3 Salmon substitutes, caviar and other fish roe products — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.3.4 Semi-preserved fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms (e.g. fish paste), excluding products of food categories 09.3.1 - 09.3.3 — 100 mg/kg
  • 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg
  • 10.1 Fresh eggs — GMP
  • 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 150 mg/kg
  • 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments — 500 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
  • 13.3 Dietetic foods intended for special medical purposes (excluding products of food category 13.1) — 50 mg/kg
  • 13.4 Dietetic formulae for slimming purposes and weight reduction — 50 mg/kg
  • 13.5 Dietetic foods (e.g. supplementary foods for dietary use) excluding products of food categories — 300 mg/kg
  • 13.6 Food supplements — 300 mg/kg
  • 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 100 mg/kg
  • 14.2.1 Beer and malt beverages — 100 mg/kg
  • 14.2.2 Cider and perry — 200 mg/kg
  • 14.2.4 Wines (other than grape) — 200 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) — 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
  • 15.3 Snacks - fish based — 200 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 120and 75 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Extracted from the dried bodies of the female cochineal scale insect, Dactylopius coccus, farmed chiefly in Peru and the Canary Islands. Carminic acid is drawn out with hot water and precipitated as an aluminium lake. Because it is insect-derived it is not vegan or vegetarian, and it raises questions under some halal and kosher rulings.

  • Not vegan
  • Not vegetarian
  • May raise a halal question
  • May raise a kosher question
CAS registry number
1390-65-4
InChIKey
DGQLVPJVXFOQEV-NGOCYOHBSA-N
PubChem
CID 14749

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E120

INS number

  • 120

CAS registry number

  • 1390-65-4

Other names

  • B Rose liquid
  • Carmine
  • Carmine (Coccus cacti L.)
  • Carmine Red
  • CARMINES
  • CI Natural Red 4
  • Cochineal (Coccus cacti L.)
  • Cochineal Dye
  • Cochineal, Carminic acid, Carmines
  • DGQLVPJVXFOQEV-NGOCYOHBSA-N
  • Dye, Cochineal
  • E 120

Systematic names

  • 2-Anthracenecarboxylic acid, 7-.alpha.-D-glucopyranosyl-9,10-dihydro-3,5,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1-methyl-9,10-dioxo-
  • 3,5,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1-methyl-9,10-dioxo-7-[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]anthracene-2-carboxylic acid
  • 3,5,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1-methyl-9,10-dioxo-7-[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydropyran-2-yl]anthracene-2-carboxylic acid
  • 7-[(5S,2R,3R,4R,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)(2H-3,4,5,6-tetrahydropy ran-2-yl)]-3,5,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1-methyl-9,10-dioxoanthracene-2-carboxylic aci d
  • 7-glucopyranosyl-3,5,6,8-tetrahydroxyl-1-methyl-9,10-dioxoanthracene-2-carboxylic acid

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADI2.5 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSA ANS2015

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/carmines.json