Grape skin extract

INS 163(ii)

Used as a colour.

Grape skin extract, or enocyanin, is a red to purple anthocyanin colour from winemaking residue. Its shade depends on acidity, so it is used chiefly in acidic drinks and confectionery where it stays red.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Grape skin extract 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

67 food categories

highest permitted level 5,000 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 100 mg/kg
  • 01.4.4 Cream analogues — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.5.2 Milk and cream powder analogues — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.2 Rind of ripened cheese — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 01.6.4.2 Flavoured processed cheese, including containing fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 01.6.5 Cheese analogues — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 200 mg/kg
  • 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 200 mg/kg
  • 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 100 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.10 Fermented fruit products — 500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.3 Fruit in vinegar, oil, or brine — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.5 — 500 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 — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.8 Fruit preparations, including pulp, purees, fruit toppings and coconut milk — 500 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 500 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
  • 04.2.2.5 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
  • 05.1.3 Cocoa-based spreads, incl. fillings — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.1.4 Cocoa and chocolate products — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.1.5 Imitation chocolate, chocolate substitute products — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.2.2 Soft candy — 1,700 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 500 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
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 200 mg/kg
  • 07.1.2 Crackers, excluding sweet crackers — 200 mg/kg
  • 07.1.4 Bread-type products, including bread stuffing and bread crumbs — 200 mg/kg
  • 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 08.2 Processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts — 5,000 mg/kg
  • 08.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 5,000 mg/kg
  • 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 5,000 mg/kg
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 09.3.1 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms, marinated and/or in jelly — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.3.2 Fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms, pickled and/or in brine — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 09.3.3 Salmon substitutes, caviar and other fish roe products — 1,500 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 — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 10.1 Fresh eggs — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 200 mg/kg
  • 12.4 Mustards — 200 mg/kg
  • 12.5 Soups and broths — 500 mg/kg
  • 12.6.1 Emulsified sauces and dips (e.g. mayonnaise, salad dressing, onion dips) — 300 mg/kg
  • 12.6.2 Non-emulsified sauces (e.g. ketchup, cheese sauce, cream sauce, brown gravy) — 300 mg/kg
  • 12.6.3 Mixes for sauces and gravies — 300 mg/kg
  • 12.7 Salads (e.g. macaroni salad, potato salad) and sandwich spreads excluding cocoa-and nut-based spreads of food categories 04.2.2.5 and 05.1.3 — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 13.3 Dietetic foods intended for special medical purposes (excluding products of food category 13.1) — 250 mg/kg
  • 13.4 Dietetic formulae for slimming purposes and weight reduction — 250 mg/kg
  • 13.5 Dietetic foods (e.g. supplementary foods for dietary use) excluding products of food categories — 250 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
  • 14.2.2 Cider and perry — 300 mg/kg
  • 14.2.4 Wines (other than grape) — 300 mg/kg
  • 14.2.6 Distilled spirituous beverages containing more than 15% alcohol — 300 mg/kg
  • 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low-alcoholic refreshers) — 300 mg/kg
  • 15.1 Snacks - potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes) — 500 mg/kg
  • 15.2 Processed nuts, including coated nuts and nut mixtures (with e.g. dried fruit) — 300 mg/kg
  • 15.3 Snacks - fish based — 400 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 163(ii)and 66 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Extracted from the skins left after pressing grapes for wine.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 163(ii)

Other names

  • GRAPE SKIN EXTRACT
  • GSKE

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/grape-skin-extract.json