E116 is not an assigned food additive number in the UK or EU. No substance called Brilliant Yellow holds this code in any current or historical food law.
E116 is not a permitted food additive in the UK or EU. If you see E116 on a food label, the product is using an unauthorised additive designation. The E number E116 has never been assigned to any food colour or other food additive under EU Regulation 1333/2008 or its predecessors, or under UK food law before or after Brexit.
What is it?
E116 does not correspond to any approved or currently defined food additive. The number falls within the E100-series range reserved for food colours, but the specific codes E112 through E119 have never been assigned to any substance in UK or EU food law. The name 'Brilliant Yellow' is sometimes associated with the laboratory dye Direct Yellow 4 (CAS 3051-11-4), a synthetic azo compound used in textile dyeing, paper colouring, and as a pH indicator in scientific assays. That substance has no approved food use and no E number.
What does it do?
Not applicable. E116 is not a food additive. If 'Brilliant Yellow' refers to Direct Yellow 4 in a non-food context, it is a bis-azo dye that produces a yellow colour at near-neutral pH and shifts towards red-orange in alkaline conditions. It is used as a pH indicator in laboratory and microbiology settings, not in food.
Where you will see it
E116 should not appear on any UK food label. The number is unassigned and any product bearing it would be incorrectly labelled under the UK Food Additives, Flavourings, Enzymes and Extraction Solvents (England) Regulations 2013 and equivalent devolved legislation, which permit only substances on the approved UK list.
What the science says
E116 is an unassigned code
Multiple primary regulatory sources, including the consolidated text of EU Regulation 1333/2008 (Annex II), the UK Food Standards Agency approved-additives list, the 1995 UK Colours in Food Regulations, and the original 1962 EEC directive on food colouring matters, contain no entry for E116 or for any substance named Brilliant Yellow as a food colour. The UK FSA approved-additives list and the NATCOL food colours legislation reference both confirm the E number sequence in the colour range jumps from E110 directly to E120, with E111-E119 wholly unallocated. No primary EEC, EU, or UK regulatory source has ever assigned E116 to any food substance, including under any transitional or national-only pre-harmonisation authorisation.
Annex II to EU Regulation 1333/2008, as consolidated to June 2024, lists no food additive with the code E116. The colour sequence in Part B runs from E110 to E120 with no intermediate entries.
The UK Food Standards Agency approved-additives list contains no entry for E116. The published table of permitted colours jumps directly from E110 to E120 with no intermediate entries.
The UK Colours in Food Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/3124) do not list E116 or any substance named Brilliant Yellow as a permitted colour. Schedule 1 moves from E110 to E120 with no intermediate entries.
The NATCOL food colours legislation reference, which covers Directive 94/36/EC and Regulation 1333/2008, lists no substance between E110 and E120. E116 does not appear in the permitted colours annex of Directive 94/36/EC.
Direct Yellow 4: the laboratory dye sometimes called Brilliant Yellow
The compound most commonly called 'Brilliant Yellow' outside of food contexts is Direct Yellow 4, a synthetic disazo dye with CAS number 3051-11-4. It has no food regulatory history, no ADI, no EFSA or JECFA evaluation as a food substance, and no approved food use in any jurisdiction. Its applications are in textile dyeing, leather colouring, paper manufacture, and as a pH indicator in scientific assays. There is no published food safety evaluation of Direct Yellow 4 as a food additive.
Direct Yellow 4 (CAS 3051-11-4), sometimes called Brilliant Yellow, is a disazo dye used in textiles, leather, and paper, and as a pH indicator and biosensor in laboratory settings. It has no approved food use and no E number.
Where it stands with the regulators
Who should be careful
E116 should not appear on any UK food label. If you see it listed, the product is using an unauthorised additive designation and you should raise a query with the Food Standards Agency or Trading Standards.
The honest read
The combination of the code E116 and the name Brilliant Yellow does not correspond to any approved, banned, or historically regulated food additive in the UK or EU. The E number is simply unallocated. Some third-party websites and additive databases list E116 with various names, but none of those attributions can be traced to a primary regulatory source. The substance sometimes called Brilliant Yellow in chemistry contexts, Direct Yellow 4, is a textile and laboratory dye with no food regulatory history at all.
Related additives
Common questions
Is E116 banned in the UK?
E116 has not been banned. It was never assigned to any food additive in the UK or EU, so it is not on the approved list. Under UK food law, only additives on the approved list may be used. E116 is not on that list, which means no food sold in the UK can legally claim to contain E116.
What substance is E116?
No food substance has been assigned the E number E116. The codes E112 through E119 are all unallocated gaps in the food colour numbering system. The name Brilliant Yellow is sometimes applied to Direct Yellow 4, a laboratory and textile dye with no approved food use and no E number.
What foods contain E116?
No legally produced UK food should contain E116, because E116 is not an approved food additive. If you see E116 on a food label, the product is incorrectly labelled.
Is E116 vegan?
The question does not apply. E116 is not an approved food additive and should not appear in any food product. Direct Yellow 4, the synthetic dye sometimes informally called Brilliant Yellow, is not derived from animal sources, but it is not a permitted food ingredient.
Sources
- UK Food Standards Agency, Approved additives and E numbers
- EUR-Lex, Consolidated text: Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on food additives, version 02.06.2024
- UK Statutory Instrument 1995 No. 3124, The Colours in Food Regulations 1995
- EUR-Lex, Council Directive 62/2645/EEC of 23 October 1962 on the approximation of the rules of the Member States concerning the colouring matters authorised for use in foodstuffs intended for human consumption
- EUR-Lex, European Parliament and Council Directive 94/36/EC of 30 June 1994 on colours for use in foodstuffs
- NATCOL, Foods Colors Legislation (full article), natcol.org
- Wikipedia, E number (food additive classification system)
- Wikipedia, Direct Yellow 4 (substance sometimes called Brilliant Yellow)
- Sigma-Aldrich, Brilliant Yellow product record, CAS 3051-11-4
- Bryant Research, EU Food Additives listing by E number
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