What is Cochineal extract; carmine used for in food?

It is listed as a colour — the role Canada and the US assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.

Is Cochineal extract; carmine banned in Europe?

No. Cochineal extract; carmine does not appear on the EU's list of authorised food additives, which is not the same as being banned: the EU permits an additive only where it has authorised it, and usually the reason for an absence is that no one applied. The EU has made no finding against this substance. It does mean it may not be used as a food additive in the EU today.

Where is Cochineal extract; carmine permitted?

Of the seven regulators this site reads, Canada and the US permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.

Is Cochineal extract; carmine vegan?

No. Cochineal extract; carmine is animal-derived, and is not vegetarian either. This page says what it is made from.

Cochineal extract; carmine

Listed as a colour by Canada and the US.

Listed as colours (CA, US)

Canada: Food colour — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3)
United States: Color additive (21 CFR part 73) — 21 CFR 73.100

Cochineal extract and carmine are the red colours obtained from cochineal insects: the crude extract and the purified carmine lake. US labelling rules require them to be named explicitly rather than hidden under a general colour declaration, because of allergic reactions in a small number of people.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Cochineal extract; carmine by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New Zealand	No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
CanadaHealth Canada	Permitted, with conditions	no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) 5 permitted uses Show every permitted use In: Apple and (naming the fruit or fruits) jam; Bread; Butter; Concentrated (naming the fruit) juice, except frozen concentrated orange juice; Fig marmalade with pectin; Fish roe (caviar); Ice cream mix; Ice milk mix; Icing sugar; (Naming the fruit or fruits) jam with pectin; (Naming the fruit or fruits) jelly with pectin; Liqueur; Lobster paste; (Naming the flavour) milk; (Naming the flavour) partly skimmed milk; (Naming the flavour) partly skimmed milk with added milk solids; (Naming the flavour) skim milk; (Naming the flavour) skim milk with added milk solids; Pickles and relishes; Pineapple marmalade with pectin; Rhubarb and (naming the fruit or fruits) jam; Sherbet; Smoked fish; Tomato catsup. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item C.9(a) In: Blend of prepared fish and prepared meat as set out in paragraph 18.1.3(g) of Volume 18 of the Food Compositional Standards Document. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0122. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item C.9(b) In: (Naming the flavour) essence; (Naming the flavour) extract; (Naming the flavour) flavour. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Amendment notices: M-FAA-24-14. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item C.9(b.1) In: Sausage casings. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: 7,500 ppm. The amount not to exceed 75 ppm in the sausage prepared with the casing. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item C.9(c) In: Unstandardized foods, except those unstandardized foods set out in paragraph (c) of this item. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item C.9(d)	Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3)and 4 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSA	No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards Scotland	No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
JapanConsumer Affairs Agency	No listing matchedThis site imports only Japan’s list of designated additives (Appended Table 1 to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act), matched by English name. Existing additives, natural flavouring agents and ordinary foods used as additives are permitted outside that list and are not imported, so an empty row does not show that Japan does not permit the substance.
South KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug Safety	No listing matchedThis site imports Part III of South Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, matched by CAS number, then INS number, then exact name. Mixed preparations and sanitisers are not imported, and an entry whose identifiers disagreed with a page’s is held for review, so an empty row does not show that South Korea does not permit the substance.
United StatesFood and Drug Administration	Permitted		21 CFR 73.100retrieved 2026-10-17
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

How much is permitted

A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.

Canada	—	4 GMP, 1 no quantity stated
United States	—	1 no quantity stated

No regulator sets a figure for Cochineal extract; carmine. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.

What it is made from

Extracted from the dried bodies of the female cochineal scale insect, Dactylopius coccus. Because it is insect-derived it is neither vegan nor 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

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

Every name it appears under

1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.

As it appears in regulation

Cochineal extract; carmine

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 rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Common questions

Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.

What is Cochineal extract; carmine?: Cochineal extract and carmine are the red colours obtained from cochineal insects: the crude extract and the purified carmine lake. US labelling rules require them to be named explicitly rather than hidden under a general colour declaration, because of allergic reactions in a small number of people.
What is Cochineal extract; carmine used for in food?: It is listed as a colour — the role Canada and the US assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Cochineal extract; carmine banned in Europe?: No. Cochineal extract; carmine does not appear on the EU's list of authorised food additives, which is not the same as being banned: the EU permits an additive only where it has authorised it, and usually the reason for an absence is that no one applied. The EU has made no finding against this substance. It does mean it may not be used as a food additive in the EU today.
Where is Cochineal extract; carmine permitted?: Of the seven regulators this site reads, Canada and the US permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Is Cochineal extract; carmine vegan?: No. Cochineal extract; carmine is animal-derived, and is not vegetarian either. This page says what it is made from.

Sources for this page

ca retrieved 2026-10-17
ecfr retrieved 2026-10-17

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

Machine-readable: a JSON record of this additive is given on request —how to ask for access.

Follow changes to Cochineal extract; carmine:Atom feed — regulatory events, and any change the weekly refresh detects in its provisions.