Curcumin

E number E100INS 100(i)CAS 458-37-7

Used as a colour.

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric, used in mustards, confectionery, dairy products and savoury dishes. It is one of the most widely used colours obtained from a plant rather than synthesised.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Curcumin by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
United StatesFood and Drug Administration	Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Permitted, with conditions	81 food categories highest permitted level 4,000 mg/kg Show every food category 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 150 mg/kg 01.6.1 Unripened cheese — 150 mg/kg 01.6.2.1 Ripened cheese, includes rind — 500 mg/kg 01.6.2.2 Rind of ripened cheese — 100 mg/kg 01.6.2.3 Cheese powder (for reconstitution; e.g. for cheese sauces) — 100 mg/kg 01.6.4.1 Plain processed cheese — 100 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 02.1.2 Vegetable oils and fats — 5 mg/kg 02.1.3 Lard, tallow, fish oil, and other animal fats — 5 mg/kg 02.2.2 Fat spreads, dairy fat spreads and blended spreads — 10 mg/kg 02.3 Fat emulsions mainly of type oil-in-water, including mixed and/or flavoured products based on fat emulsions — 100 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 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 150 mg/kg 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 200 mg/kg 04.1.2.5 — 500 mg/kg 04.1.2.6 Fruit-based spreads (e.g. chutney) excluding products of food category — 200 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 — 300 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 — 50 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 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) — 200 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 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, — 200 mg/kg 05.1.3 Cocoa-based spreads, incl. fillings — 300 mg/kg 05.1.4 Cocoa and chocolate products — 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 — 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 — 200 mg/kg 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products — 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) — 100 mg/kg 06.8.1 Soybean-based beverages — 1 mg/kg 07.1.1.1 Yeast-leavened breads and specialty breads — 200 mg/kg 07.1.2 Crackers, excluding sweet crackers — 200 mg/kg 07.1.3 Other ordinary bakery products (e.g. bagels, pita, English muffins) — 200 mg/kg 07.1.4 Bread-type products, including bread stuffing and bread crumbs — 200 mg/kg 07.1.5 Steamed breads and buns — 200 mg/kg 07.1.6 Mixes for bread and ordinary bakery wares — 200 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 — 300 mg/kg 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — 20 mg/kg 08.2 Processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts — 20 mg/kg 08.3.1 Non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 20 mg/kg 08.3.2 Heat-treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 20 mg/kg 08.3.3 Frozen processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 20 mg/kg 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 4,000 mg/kg 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 200 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 — 420 mg/kg 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 100 mg/kg 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 20 mg/kg 09.3.1 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms, marinated and/or in jelly — 100 mg/kg 09.3.2 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms, pickled and/or in brine — 100 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 — 100 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 12.6.2 Non-emulsified sauces (e.g. ketchup, cheese sauce, cream sauce, brown gravy) — GMP 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 — 50 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 — 60 mg/kg 14.2.1 Beer and malt beverages — 200 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 — 100 mg/kg 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low-alcoholic refreshers) — 100 mg/kg 15.1 Snacks - potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes) — 300 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 100(i)and 80 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Extracted with solvents from the dried rhizome of Curcuma longa and then purified. It is poorly soluble in water, so food preparations often carry it on an emulsifier or in a solvent, and that carrier can matter to a dietary question the colour itself does not raise.

Vegan
Vegetarian

CAS registry number: 458-37-7
InChIKey: VFLDPWHFBUODDF-FCXRPNKRSA-N
PubChem: CID 969516

Every name it appears under

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

E number

E100

INS number

100(i)

CAS registry number

458-37-7
94875-80-6

Other names

(1E,6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenyl)hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione
(1E,6E)-1,7-Bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione
(1E,6E)-1,7-Bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione
(E,E)-1,7-bis(4-Hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione
(E/Z)-Curcumin
1,5-Di(vanillyliden)acetylaceton
1,5-Divanillyliden-2,4-pentandion
1,6-Heptadiene-3,5-dione, 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-
1,6-Heptadiene-3,5-dione, 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-, (1E,6E)-
1,6-Heptadiene-3,5-dione, 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-, (E,E)-
1,7-Bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione
1,9-Bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2,7-nonadiene-4,6-dione
C.I. Natural Yellow 3
CCRIS 3257
CI Natural Yellow 3
Cucurmin
Curcuma
CURCUMIN
Curcumin (synthetic)
Curcumin e100
Curcumin I
Curcumin phytosome
Curcumine
Curcurmin
Diferaloylmethane
Diferoyl Methane
Diferuloylmethane
E 100
Gelbwurz
Haidr
Halad
Haldar
Halud
Hydrastis
Indian saffron
INS NO. 100(I)
INS-100(I)
IT942ZTH98
Jianghuangsu
Kacha haldi
Kurkum
Kurkumin
Lipocurc
NanoCurc
Natural yellow 3
Phytosome, Curcumin
Safran d'Inde
Souchet
Terra Merita
Tumeric
Tumeric oleoresin
Tumeric yellow
Turmeric Essential Oil
Turmeric Super Whitening Oil
Turmeric Yellow
Victory 19 Virus Out
Yellow Ginger
Yellow puccoon
Yo-Kin
Zlut prirodni 3

Systematic names

(1E,6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-Heptadiene-3,5-dione

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
Type	Value	Population	Assessed by	Opinion
ADI	3 mg/kg bw/day	consumers	EFSA ANS	2010

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/curcumin.json