Tartrazine
A synthetic lemon-yellow colouring made from petroleum, used to make drinks, sweets and snacks look brighter. UK law makes it carry a children's warning.
Linked to worse activity and attention in some children. Can trigger hives, swelling or asthma flares in sensitive people, especially those reacting to aspirin.
What is it?
A man-made azo dye, a colouring chemically built from petroleum-derived ingredients to give a strong yellow shade. It does not occur in nature.
What does it do?
Adds bright yellow or, mixed with blue dyes, green colour to food and drink. It is purely cosmetic and adds no flavour, nutrition or preservation.
Where you will see it
Soft drinks, squashes, sweets, jellies, ice lollies, cakes, snacks, sauces, pickles and some packet desserts. On a UK label it shows as 'tartrazine' or 'E102', alongside a warning that it may affect children's behaviour.
What the science says
Children's activity and attention
A 2007 UK trial funded by the Food Standards Agency gave children drinks containing tartrazine and other dyes plus a preservative, and measured behaviour. It found small increases in hyperactivity in some children. The effect was for the mixture, not tartrazine alone, and varied between children.
Mixtures of artificial colours including tartrazine plus sodium benzoate were associated with increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8 to 9-year-old children drawn from the general population.
EFSA concluded the study gave limited evidence of a small effect on activity and attention in some children, but that effects were inconsistent across the two age groups and two mixtures, so it could not be used to change the safety limit.
Allergic-type reactions
In a minority of people, tartrazine can trigger skin and breathing reactions. This is reported more often in people who also react to aspirin. The numbers affected are small, but the reactions are real.
Tartrazine has been reported to provoke urticaria (hives), angioedema, eczema and asthma in susceptible people, with a recognised overlap with aspirin intolerance.
The US FDA requires tartrazine (FD&C Yellow No. 5) to be declared by name on labels because it may cause allergic-type reactions, including bronchial asthma, in certain susceptible people.
Regulatory safety review
European regulators reassessed tartrazine in 2009, looking at newer studies on behaviour, DNA and development. They kept the existing acceptable daily intake unchanged and judged the hyperactivity findings insufficient to alter it.
EFSA re-evaluated tartrazine and concluded the available data did not justify revising the acceptable daily intake of 7.5 mg per kg of body weight per day.
Where it stands with the regulators
Who should be careful
People with asthma or who react to aspirin, and parents managing a child's hyperactivity, may want to avoid it. Look for 'tartrazine' or 'E102' in the ingredients, and the children's behaviour warning on the pack.
The honest read
Tartrazine carries two genuinely sourced signals: a UK-required children's behaviour warning, and allergic-type reactions in a small group of sensitive people. Regulators kept it legal and unchanged its intake limit, while the FSA pushed industry to drop it. Both things are true at once: it stays permitted, and many UK brands removed it anyway.
Related additives
Common questions
Is E102 banned in the UK?
No. Tartrazine is legal in the UK, but any food or drink containing it must carry a warning that it 'may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children'.
Does tartrazine cause hyperactivity in children?
A 2007 FSA-funded trial linked a mixture of dyes including tartrazine, plus a preservative, to small increases in hyperactivity in some children. It tested the mixture, not tartrazine alone, and effects varied. EFSA judged it not strong enough to change the safety limit, but the UK still requires the warning label.
What foods contain E102?
Soft drinks and squashes, sweets, jellies, ice lollies, cakes, snacks, sauces and pickles. On the label it appears as 'tartrazine' or 'E102'.
Is E102 vegan?
Tartrazine is synthetic, made from petroleum-derived chemicals rather than animal sources, so the colour itself is suitable for vegans. The finished product may still contain other animal ingredients.
Sources
- McCann et al., Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in children, The Lancet (2007)
- EFSA evaluates the Southampton study on food additives and child behaviour
- EFSA Scientific Opinion on the re-evaluation of Tartrazine (E102), EFSA Journal (2009)
- Food Standards Agency, Food additives
- Stevenson et al., Tartrazine sensitivity, PubMed
Aaron Keen is the founder of NutraSafe. He researches and writes every additive entry himself, from the primary sources. About the research →
This is a guide, not medical advice. If an additive affects you, speak to your GP or a dietitian.
See this on every food you scan
NutraSafe reads the label and puts every additive into plain English, with the source, right in the app.
Get NutraSafe on the App Store