Ponceau 4R (Cochineal red A)

INS 124

Used as a colour.

Ponceau 4R is a synthetic red azo dye used in the European Union in confectionery, desserts and preserved meats. It is one of the six colours required to carry the activity-and-attention warning, and is not permitted in food in the United States.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Ponceau 4R (Cochineal red A) 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

50 food categories

highest permitted level 500 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 150 mg/kg
  • 01.6.2.2 Rind of ripened 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
  • 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 50 mg/kg
  • 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 50 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 50 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 — 100 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 — 50 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 50 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
  • 05.1.4 Cocoa and chocolate products — 300 mg/kg
  • 05.1.5 Imitation chocolate, chocolate substitute products — 50 mg/kg
  • 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 100 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 300 mg/kg
  • 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 50 mg/kg
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 50 mg/kg
  • 06.8.1 Soybean-based beverages — 10 mg/kg
  • 07.2 Fine bakery wares (sweet, salty, savoury) and mixes — 50 mg/kg
  • 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 30 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 — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — 500 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 250 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 — 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 — 500 mg/kg
  • 10.1 Fresh eggs — 500 mg/kg
  • 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 50 mg/kg
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — 300 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 — 50 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 — 200 mg/kg
  • 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 — 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 — 50 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) — 200 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 124and 49 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Synthesised from petroleum-derived aromatic intermediates by diazotisation and coupling. Its alternative name, Cochineal Red A, is misleading: it contains nothing derived from cochineal insects and is suitable for a vegan diet.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 124

Other names

  • PONCEAU 4R (COCHINEAL RED A)

Hazard reference values

No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.

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

  • 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/ponceau-4r-cochineal-red-a.json