Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii

INS 101(iv)

Listed as a colour by Codex.

Listed as colours (Codex)

Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii is vitamin B2 produced by fermenting a fungus that naturally overproduces it, a long-established commercial route.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New ZealandNo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.Related listings with permitted uses here: Riboflavin (E101), Riboflavin-5′-phosphate (sodium) (E101). This site cannot tell whether those listings cover this exact form.
CanadaHealth CanadaNo listing matchedHealth Canada’s lists name additives without E or INS numbers, so this site matches them by exact name. A substance listed there under a name this site does not recognise has no row here.Related listing with permitted uses here: Riboflavin (E101). This site cannot tell whether that listing covers this exact form.
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSANo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.Related listings with permitted uses here: Riboflavin (E101), Riboflavin-5′-phosphate (sodium) (E101). This site cannot tell whether those listings cover this exact form.
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards ScotlandNo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.Related listings with permitted uses here: Riboflavin (E101), Riboflavin-5′-phosphate (sodium) (E101). This site cannot tell whether those listings cover this exact form.
JapanConsumer Affairs AgencyNo listing matchedThis site imports only Japan’s list of designated additives (Appended Table 1 to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act), matched by English name. Existing additives, natural flavouring agents and ordinary foods used as additives are permitted outside that list and are not imported, so an empty row does not show that Japan does not permit the substance.Related listings with permitted uses here: Riboflavin (E101), Riboflavin-5′-phosphate (sodium) (E101). This site cannot tell whether those listings cover this exact form.
South KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug SafetyNo listing matchedThis site imports Part III of South Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, matched by CAS number, then INS number, then exact name. Mixed preparations and sanitisers are not imported, and an entry whose identifiers disagreed with a page’s is held for review, so an empty row does not show that South Korea does not permit the substance.Related listings with permitted uses here: Riboflavin (E101), Riboflavin-5′-phosphate (sodium) (E101). This site cannot tell whether those listings cover this exact form.
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

13 food categories

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

Show every food category and its notes
  • 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit — GMP
    • Note 4 For use in decoration, stamping, marking or branding the product only.
    • Note XS143 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Dates (CXS 143-1985).
  • 04.2.1.2 Surface-treated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP
    • Note 4 For use in decoration, stamping, marking or branding the product only.
    • Note XS330 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Aubergines (CXS 330-2018).
  • 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, — GMP
    • Note XS294 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Gochujang (CXS 294-2009).
  • 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
    • Note 95 For non-standardized foods: for use in surimi and fish roe products only.
    • Note XS36 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Quick Frozen Finfish, Uneviscerated and Eviscerated (CODEX STAN 36-1981).
    • Note XS92 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Quick Frozen Shrimps and Prawns (CODEX STAN 92-1981).
    • Note XS95 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Quick Frozen Lobsters (CODEX STAN 95-1981).
    • Note XS165 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Quick Frozen Blocks of Fish Fillet, Minced Fish Flesh and Mixtures of Fillets and Minced Fish Flesh (CODEX STAN 165-1989).
    • Note XS190 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Quick Frozen Fish Fillets (CODEX STAN 190-1995).
    • Note XS191 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Quick Frozen Raw Squid (CODEX STAN 191-1995).
    • Note XS292 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Live and Raw Bivalve Molluscs (CODEX STAN 292-2008).
    • Note XS312 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Live Abalone and for Raw Fresh Chilled or Frozen Abalone for Direct Consumption or for Further Processing (CODEX STAN 312-2013).
    • Note XS315 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Fresh and Quick Frozen Raw Scallop Products (CODEX STAN 315-2014).
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
    • Note 16 For use in glaze, coatings or decorations for fruit, vegetables, meat or fish only.
    • Note XS166 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Quick Frozen Fish Sticks (Fish Fingers), Fish Portions and Fish Fillets – Breaded or in Batter (CODEX STAN 166-1989).
  • 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
    • Note 16 For use in glaze, coatings or decorations for fruit, vegetables, meat or fish only.
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — GMP
    • Note 95 For non-standardized foods: for use in surimi and fish roe products only.
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
    • Note 16 For use in glaze, coatings or decorations for fruit, vegetables, meat or fish only.
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
    • Note 22 For use in smoked fish paste only.
    • Note XS167 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Salted Fish and Dried Salted Fish of the Gadidae Family of Fishes (CODEX STAN 167-1989).
    • Note XS189 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Dried Shark Fins (CODEX STAN 189-1993).
    • Note XS222 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Crackers from Marine and Freshwater Fish, Crustaceans and Molluscan Shellfish (CODEX STAN 222-2001).
    • Note XS236 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Boiled Dried Salted Anchovies (CODEX STAN 236-2003).
    • Note XS244 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Salted Atlantic Herring and Salted Sprat (CODEX STAN 244-2004).
    • Note XS311 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Smoked Fish, Smoked-flavoured Fish and Smoke-dried Fish (CODEX STAN 311-2013).
  • 10.1 Fresh eggs — GMP
    • Note 4 For use in decoration, stamping, marking or branding the product only.
  • 11.3 Sugar solutions and syrups, also (partially) inverted, including treacle and molasses, excluding products of food category 1.1.1.3 — GMP
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — GMP
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 101(iv)and 13 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

How much is permitted

A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.

Codex Alimentarius—14 GMP

No regulator sets a figure for Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.

What it is made from

Produced by fermenting the fungus Ashbya gossypii, which accumulates riboflavin far beyond its own needs.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 101(iv)

Other names

  • Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii

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 rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Common questions

Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.

What is INS 101(iv)?
INS 101(iv) is Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii. Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii is vitamin B2 produced by fermenting a fungus that naturally overproduces it, a long-established commercial route.
What is Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii used for in food?
It is listed as a colour — the role Codex assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Where is Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii permitted?
Of the seven regulators this site reads, the Codex standard permits it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Is Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii vegan?
Yes. Riboflavin from Ashbya gossypii is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

  • gsfa retrieved 2026-09-07

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