Chlorophyllin copper complexes, potassium and sodium salts

INS 141(ii)

Used as a colour.

These are the water-soluble green colours made from chlorophyll with copper replacing the magnesium at the centre of the molecule, which is what stops the green turning olive when heated or acidified.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Chlorophyllin copper complexes, potassium and sodium salts 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

57 food categories

highest permitted level 700 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 50 mg/kg
  • 01.6.1 Unripened cheese — 50 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.1 Ripened cheese, includes rind — 15 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.2 Rind of ripened cheese — 75 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.3 Cheese powder (for reconstitution; e.g. for cheese sauces) — 50 mg/kg
  • 01.6.4.2 Flavoured processed cheese, including containing fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. — 50 mg/kg
  • 01.6.5 Cheese analogues — 50 mg/kg
  • 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 500 mg/kg
  • 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 500 mg/kg
  • 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.10 Fermented fruit products — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.12 Cooked fruit — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.3 Fruit in vinegar, oil, or brine — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.5 — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.6 Fruit-based spreads (e.g. chutney) excluding products of food category — 150 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.7 Candied fruit — 250 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.8 Fruit preparations, including pulp, purees, fruit toppings and coconut milk — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 150 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 — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.7 Fermented vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera) and seaweed products, excluding fermented soybean products of food categories 06.8.6, 06.8.7, 12.9.1, — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.8 Cooked or fried vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.1.3 Cocoa-based spreads, incl. fillings — 6.4 mg/kg
  • 05.1.4 Cocoa and chocolate products — 700 mg/kg
  • 05.1.5 Imitation chocolate, chocolate substitute products — 700 mg/kg
  • 05.2.1 Hard candy — 700 mg/kg
  • 05.2.2 Soft candy — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.2.3 Nougats and marzipans — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 700 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) — 75 mg/kg
  • 06.8.1 Soybean-based beverages — 30 mg/kg
  • 07.1.4 Bread-type products, including bread stuffing and bread crumbs — 6 mg/kg
  • 07.2 Fine bakery wares (sweet, salty, savoury) and mixes — 75 mg/kg
  • 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 40 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — 30 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 40 mg/kg
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 200 mg/kg
  • 09.3.1 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms, marinated and/or in jelly — 40 mg/kg
  • 09.3.2 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms, pickled and/or in brine — 40 mg/kg
  • 09.3.3 Salmon substitutes, caviar and other fish roe products — 200 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 — 75 mg/kg
  • 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg
  • 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 300 mg/kg
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — 64 mg/kg
  • 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments — 500 mg/kg
  • 12.4 Mustards — 500 mg/kg
  • 12.5 Soups and broths — 400 mg/kg
  • 12.6 Sauces and like products — 100 mg/kg
  • 13.6 Food supplements — 500 mg/kg
  • 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 300 mg/kg
  • 15.1 Snacks - potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes) — 350 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 — 350 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 141(ii)and 56 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Chlorophyll is extracted from plants such as alfalfa and nettles, saponified and treated with a copper salt, then made into the potassium or sodium salt.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 141(ii)

Other names

  • Chlorophyllin copper complexes,
  • Chlorophyllin copper complexes, potassium and sodium salts

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 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/chlorophyllin-copper-complexes-potassium-and-sodium-salts.json