Galdieria extract blue

Galdieria extract blue is a blue colour from a single-celled alga that lives in acidic hot springs. It was approved in the United States in 2024 and is more stable in acid than spirulina blue, which is its main advantage.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Galdieria extract blue by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted21 CFR 73.167retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

What it is made from

Extracted with water from cultured Galdieria sulphuraria biomass. As with spirulina the colour is phycocyanin, a protein-pigment complex, but this organism's version tolerates acidity better.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Every name it appears under

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

As it appears in regulation

  • Galdieria extract blue

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

  • ecfr 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/galdieria-extract-blue.json