FD&C Yellow No. 5

E number E102INS 102CAS 1934-21-0

Used as a colour.

Tartrazine is a synthetic lemon-yellow azo dye, certified in the United States as FD&C Yellow No. 5. It is used in soft drinks, confectionery, desserts, sauces and snack foods.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of FD&C Yellow No. 5 by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted, with conditions

Subject to batch certification by FDA.

21 CFR 74.705retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

66 food categories

highest permitted level 940 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 300 mg/kg
  • 01.3.2 Beverage whiteners — 300 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.2 Rind of ripened cheese — 100 mg/kg
  • 01.6.4.1 Plain processed cheese — 200 mg/kg
  • 01.6.4.2 Flavoured processed cheese, including containing fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. — 200 mg/kg
  • 01.6.5 Cheese analogues — 300 mg/kg
  • 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 300 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 — 40 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 200 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 — 200 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 150 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.2 Dried vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds, and nuts and seeds — 940 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 — 100 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 — 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, — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.1.3 Cocoa-based spreads, incl. fillings — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.1.4 Cocoa and chocolate products — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.1.5 Imitation chocolate, chocolate substitute products — 100 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 — 300 mg/kg
  • 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products — 70 mg/kg
  • 06.4.3 Pre-cooked pastas and noodles and like products — 70 mg/kg
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 100 mg/kg
  • 06.8.1 Soybean-based beverages — 20 mg/kg
  • 07.1.1.1 Yeast-leavened breads and specialty breads — 300 mg/kg
  • 07.1.1.2 Soda breads — 300 mg/kg
  • 07.1.2 Crackers, excluding sweet crackers — 300 mg/kg
  • 07.1.3 Other ordinary bakery products (e.g. bagels, pita, English muffins) — 300 mg/kg
  • 07.1.4 Bread-type products, including bread stuffing and bread crumbs — 300 mg/kg
  • 07.1.5 Steamed breads and buns — 300 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 — 100 mg/kg
  • 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 300 mg/kg
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 290 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 — 100 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 400 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 — 100 mg/kg
  • 09.3.3 Salmon substitutes, caviar and other fish roe products — 300 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 — 290 mg/kg
  • 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments — 425 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) — 100 mg/kg
  • 13.3 Dietetic foods intended for special medical purposes (excluding products of food category 13.1) — 100 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 — 500 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) — 300 mg/kg
  • 15.2 Processed nuts, including coated nuts and nut mixtures (with e.g. dried fruit) — 120 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 102and 65 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Synthesised from petroleum-derived aromatic compounds by diazotisation and coupling. It contains no animal-derived material. Batch certification by the FDA is required before sale in the United States.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
1934-21-0
InChIKey
UJMBCXLDXJUMFB-UHFFFAOYSA-K
PubChem
CID 164825

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E102

INS number

  • 102

CAS registry number

  • 1342-47-8
  • 1934-21-0

As it appears in regulation

  • FD&C Yellow No. 5

Other names

  • A.F. Yellow No. 4
  • Acid Yellow T
  • Acilan Yellow GG
  • Airedale Yellow T
  • Aizen tartrazine
  • Amacid Yellow T
  • Atul Tartrazine
  • Bucacid tartrazine
  • Canacert tartrazine
  • CI Food Yellow 4
  • Cilefa Yellow T
  • Dolkwal tartrazine
  • Dye Yellow Lake
  • E 102
  • Egg Yellow A
  • Erio Tartrazine
  • FD & C Yellow no. 5
  • FD&C Yellow No. 5
  • Fenazo Yellow T
  • Food Yellow 4
  • Food Yellow 5
  • HD Tartrazine
  • Hexacol Tartrazine
  • Hidazid Tartrazine
  • Hydrazine Yellow
  • Kako Tartrazine
  • Kayaku Tartrazine
  • Kiton Yellow T
  • Lake Yellow
  • Lemon Yellow A
  • Mitsui Tartrazine
  • Neklacid Yellow T
  • Oxanal Yellow T
  • San-ei Tartrazine
  • Sugai Tartrazine
  • Tartar Yellow FS
  • Tartar Yellow N
  • Tartar Yellow PF
  • Tartar Yellow S
  • Tartran Yellow
  • Tartraphenine
  • Tartrazine
  • Tartrazine B
  • Tartrazine C
  • Tartrazine FD&C Yellow #5
  • Tartrazine FQ
  • Tartrazine G
  • Tartrazine Lake
  • Tartrazine M
  • Tartrazine MCGL
  • Tartrazine N
  • Tartrazine NS
  • Tartrazine O
  • Tartrazine T
  • Tartrazine XX
  • Tartrazine XXX
  • Tartrazine Yellow
  • Tartrazol BPC
  • Tartrazol Yellow
  • Yellow 5

Systematic names

  • Trisodium 5-oxo-1-(4-sulfonatophenyl)-4-[(4-sulfonatophenyl)diazenyl]-4H-pyrazole-3-carboxylate

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADI10 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSA FEEDAP2016
ADI7.5 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSAnot identified in the dataset

Evidence and how bodies read it

Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial

McCann D, Barrett A, Cooper A, Crumpler D, Dalen L, Grimshaw K, et al.. The Lancet. 2007 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61306-3

Design
RCT
Model
human
Dose
Two mixtures of four synthetic colours plus sodium benzoate, at doses chosen to reflect typical UK intakes, given in a drink; challenge and placebo periods.
Endpoint
Global hyperactivity aggregate, combining teacher and parent ratings with a computerised attention test.
Funding
UK Food Standards Agency

What it found. Reported a small increase in the composite hyperactivity measure in 3-year-olds and 8/9-year-olds during the additive-challenge periods compared with placebo. The authors described the effects as modest and variable between individuals.

Limitations. The additives were given as mixtures, so the result cannot be attributed to any single colour or to the benzoate. Effect sizes were small relative to the spread between children, adherence differed between age groups, and the trial measured behaviour over short challenge periods rather than long-term outcomes.

How different bodies read the evidence

Positions are paraphrased in each body's own framing. Where they differ, both stand; this site does not adjudicate between them.

  1. EFSA 2008

    Judged the trial to provide limited evidence of a small effect on activity and attention in some children, but held that the mixtures tested did not allow any effect to be attributed to an individual additive, and that the findings did not warrant changing the acceptable daily intakes.

    Action taken: Left intake limits unchanged

    Source document

  2. European Union (legislature) 2008

    Took the same evidence as grounds for a consumer-information measure rather than a change in permitted levels, requiring foods containing these colours to carry the statement that they 'may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children'.

    Action taken: Imposed a mandatory warning statement while leaving the additives authorised

    Source document

Sources for this page

  • ecfr retrieved 2026-09-07
  • 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/fd-and-c-yellow-no-5.json