Iron oxide, red

INS 172(ii)

Used as a colour.

Red iron oxide is a mineral pigment used in confectionery coatings and decorative work, valued for being completely stable to heat, light and acid.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Iron oxide, red 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

32 food categories

highest permitted level 7,500 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 20 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.2 Rind of ripened cheese — 100 mg/kg
  • 01.6.4 Processed cheese — 50 mg/kg
  • 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 100 mg/kg
  • 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 350 mg/kg
  • 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 300 mg/kg
  • 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 300 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 — 250 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 200 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 5,000 mg/kg
  • 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 100 mg/kg
  • 06.3 Breakfast cereals, including rolled oats — 75 mg/kg
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 75 mg/kg
  • 07.2 Fine bakery wares (sweet, salty, savoury) and mixes — 100 mg/kg
  • 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 250 mg/kg
  • 09.3.3 Salmon substitutes, caviar and other fish roe products — 100 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 — 50 mg/kg
  • 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 50 mg/kg
  • 10.1 Fresh eggs — GMP
  • 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 150 mg/kg
  • 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 12.5 Soups and broths — 100 mg/kg
  • 12.6 Sauces and like products — 75 mg/kg
  • 13.6 Food supplements — 7,500 mg/kg
  • 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 100 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) — 400 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 172(ii)and 31 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Made synthetically by precipitating and calcining iron salts. The shade depends on particle size and on the oxidation state achieved during calcining.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
InChIKey
JEIPFZHSYJVQDO-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 518696

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 172(ii)

CAS registry number

  • 1309-37-1

Other names

  • 11554 Red
  • Anchred standard
  • Anhydrous Ferric Oxide
  • Anhydrous Iron (III)
  • Anhydrous Iron (III) Oxide
  • Anhydrous iron oxide
  • Anhydrous oxide of iron
  • Armenian bole
  • Bayer S 11
  • Bayferrox 105M
  • Black oxide of iron
  • Calcotone Red
  • Caput mortuum
  • Colcothar
  • COSMETIC RED OXIDE
  • Crocus martis adstringens
  • Deanox
  • E 172 RED
  • Eisenoxyd
  • English Red
  • Ferric Oxide
  • Ferric oxide (anhydrous)
  • Ferric oxide (colloidal)
  • Ferric Oxide Red
  • Ferric sesquioxide
  • Ferrugo
  • Ferrum Oxydatum
  • Hematite 8124
  • Hematite mineral
  • Indian Red
  • iron (III) oxide
  • Iron oxide (Fe2O3)
  • Iron oxide,
  • Iron oxide, red
  • Iron Red
  • Iron sesquioxide
  • Iron trioxide
  • iron(3+) oxide
  • Jeweler's rouge
  • Jewelers rouge
  • Levanox Red 130A
  • Light Red
  • Mapico Red
  • Mars Brown
  • Mars Red
  • Natural hematite
  • Natural Red Oxide
  • Ochre
  • Prussian Brown
  • Quick rouge
  • Raddle
  • Red Ferric Oxide
  • Red Iron Oxide
  • RED IRON OXIDE R 1599D
  • Red oxide
  • Red oxide D3452
  • Red oxide D6984
  • Red oxide of iron
  • Rouge

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/iron-oxide-red.json