Open Food Labels. Search 867 ingredients⌘K

E127Colour

Erythrosine

What the research shows

Concerning

in animal and lab studies only

A cherry-pink colouring made in a lab.

It gives food a red-pink colour.12

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
  • EU permitted

What research says

Animal and lab studies only

  • Concern

    DNA repair in cells4

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

  • Concern

    DNA damage in cells5

    In lab studies, erythrosine B damaged DNA in liver cells at some tested concentrations.

  • Concern

    Cell damage in lab studies6

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

Study type not stated

  • Open question

    Thyroid effects3

    Erythrosine is a red food colour, and studies looked at how it affects the thyroid and hormone levels.

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 one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. 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.

What expert reviews concluded

Expert panels that weigh all the research. Shown for context: the signal at the top does not count them.

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 26, 2026. CC BY-SA 4.0.
  3. 3Poulsen E. Case study: erythrosine. Food Addit Contam. 1993;10(3):315-23. doi:10.1080/02652039309374154
  4. 4Chequer 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
  5. 5Chequer 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
  6. 6Ganesan 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