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E127Colour

Erythrosine

What the research shows

Prototype

Concerning

in animal and lab studies only

3 of 3 health findings on this page · See the findings

A cherry-pink colouring made in a lab.

It gives food a red-pink colour.

Written from Open Food Facts and English Wikipedia12

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
  • EU permitted

What research says

Animal and lab studies only

  • Concern

    DNA repair in cells3

    In lab studies, erythrosine lowered two genes that help cells repair DNA.

  • Concern

    DNA damage in cells4

    In lab studies, erythrosine damaged DNA in liver cells, but scientists do not yet know whether this happens in people.

  • Concern

    Cell damage in lab studies5

    In lab studies, erythrosine blocked many protein interactions and showed harmful cell effects at similar amounts.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least two findings in people. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.

Regulatory status

Checked Sep 2026

Status reflects the named register on the date checked. It is not a safety rating. A country appears here once we've found this ingredient on its official list.

How we check

Products

The 6 most-scanned of 5,943 products on Open Food Facts that list erythrosine.

  • Lucky Charms General Mills · 18.6 oz 4 additives
  • Fruit Cocktail in Grape Juice Freshona · 410 g 2 additives
  • Fruit Loaf irwins · 400 g 8 additives
  • Strawberry Lowfat Milk Nesquik · 14 fl oz (414 ml) 5 additives
  • Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell Ice Cream · 1.89 l 7 additives
  • Original nutrition shake Ensure 6 additives

References

  1. 1Erythrosine: ingredient taxonomy entry. Open Food Facts.
  2. 2Erythrosine. Wikipedia. Accessed September 25, 2026.
  3. 3Chequer FM, Venancio VP, Almeida MR, Aissa AF, Bianchi MLP, Antunes LM. Erythrosine B and quinoline yellow dyes regulate DNA repair gene expression in human HepG2 cells. Toxicol Ind Health. 2017;33(10):765-774. doi:10.1177/0748233717715186
  4. 4Chequer FM, Venâncio VP, Bianchi ML, Antunes LM. Genotoxic and mutagenic effects of erythrosine B, a xanthene food dye, on HepG2 cells. Food Chem Toxicol. 2012;50(10):3447-51. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2012.07.042
  5. 5Ganesan L, Margolles-Clark E, Song Y, Buchwald P. The food colorant erythrosine is a promiscuous protein-protein interaction inhibitor. Biochem Pharmacol. 2011;81(6):810-8. doi:10.1016/j.bcp.2010.12.020