Chapter 11: The supporting cast · Part 3: Colours
Sunset Yellow FCF
- Contaminant risk
The worst fact: it carries the same EU food warning as tartrazine: "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".
Why brands use it: orange and "citrus" shades.
Take care if: no specific group. The US FDA says most children have no adverse effects, "but some evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive".
Comes from: sulfanilic acid, diazotised and coupled with 6-hydroxy-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid.
Myth check: "Food colours are tested so they're the same everywhere": the limits differ. For Sudan I, a dye impurity, the EU allows 0.5 mg/kg and the US 10 mg/kg, 20 times more.
Contaminants: Sudan I, benzidine and 4-aminobiphenyl. They're unlikely in a well-made product, but it's a factor you can't see on the label.
Fair to say: the EU's food safety authority said the evidence did not show a causal link between these colours and children's behaviour, and the WHO's food additive committee raised its daily limit in 2011.
Correct as of November 2026. What the badges mean
Sources
- European Union. Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V; Regulation (EU) 231/2012 (food additive specifications); Regulation (EU) 2022/63 (E171); Regulation (EU) 1297/2014 (detergent capsules); Regulation (EC) 790/2009 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/849 (borates); Regulation (EU) 109/2012; Regulation (EU) 2023/2055 (microplastics); Regulation (EU) 2024/1328 (D4, D5, D6); Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 (cosmetics) Annexes III and IV.
- JECFA (FAO/WHO). Specifications and evaluations: titanium dioxide (2023), sodium carboxymethylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, Brilliant Blue FCF, tartrazine, Sunset Yellow FCF, D&C Red 33.
The full source list is at the end of Chapter 11.