E102
Tartrazine (E102)
Bright yellow azo dye. Imported sweets, some bakery, packet desserts, fizzy drinks. Most UK brands reformulated post-2009; still appears on imported lines.
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Children & additives · UK
Food additives and children's behaviour: the six colours to watch
Six artificial colours, six E-numbers, one warning label the FSA requires UK products to carry. We pick them out the moment you scan the pack. So you can read it in the aisle.
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The Southampton Six
The six colours that carry a warning label
In 2007 the FSA-funded Southampton study linked these six artificial colours, in combination with sodium benzoate, to increased hyperactivity and inattention in some children. UK products containing any of them must carry the warning "May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." Mandatory wording, not editorial.
E104
Quinoline Yellow (E104)
Yellow synthetic dye. Some imported sweets, fizzy drinks, ice creams and bakery. Banned as a food colour in the US and Australia.
E110
Sunset Yellow (E110)
Orange-yellow azo dye. Imported sweets, drinks, jelly and dessert mixes. EFSA reduced the ADI in 2009 then restored it in 2014 after further review.
E122
Carmoisine (E122)
Red azo dye, also called Azorubine. Imported sweets, marzipan, jellies, some flavoured yoghurts and drinks. Banned as a food additive in the US, Norway, Sweden, Austria and Japan.
E124
Ponceau 4R (E124)
Red azo dye. Some imported sweets, cured meats, jellies, dessert mixes and packet sauces. Not permitted as a food additive in the US.
E129
Allura Red AC (E129)
Red azo dye, called Red 40 in the US. Imported sweets, snacks, fizzy drinks, cake icings and dessert mixes. California considered a Prop 65 listing in 2022; assessment ongoing.
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What the research actually found
What the Southampton
study actually did.
It gets named in every headline and explained in almost none of them. Here is the design in plain English, and what it could not show.
The trial was funded by the FSA, run by researchers at the University of Southampton and published in the Lancet in 2007. It was randomised, double blind and placebo controlled, which is the strongest design available for a question like this one. Two age groups took part, three-year-olds and eight to nine-year-olds, recruited from the general community rather than from children already diagnosed with anything.
Each child drank a mix. Two of the drinks carried artificial colours combined with the preservative sodium benzoate (E211), and one was a placebo made to look and taste the same. Nobody involved knew which drink a child had on a given day, including the parents and the people scoring the behaviour. Behaviour was rated by parents, by teachers and by independent observers, then combined into a single hyperactivity score. Both active mixes raised that score against the placebo.
What it could not show matters as much. The mixes were tested as mixes, so the trial cannot say which colour did what, or how much of the effect belonged to the sodium benzoate rather than to the colours. The response varied a great deal from child to child, and an average shift across a group is not a prediction for any one child. It also ran on drinks, not on a normal week of food.
What followed is the part that stands. The FSA accepted the findings and asked manufacturers to take the six colours out voluntarily, which most large UK brands did. EU law then required any product still using them to carry the warning. EFSA reviewed the colours separately and cut the acceptable daily intake for some of them in 2009, including a twenty-fold reduction for quinoline yellow (E104).
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Where the colours show up on a UK shelf
Where the colours still show up
Most major UK brands voluntarily removed the Southampton Six post-2009. The colours survive on imported products, party-aisle sweets, smaller brands and some bakery items. These are the categories where they still show up most often.
Party-aisle and imported sweets.
American candy aisles, Polish sweets, Asian snack lines. Scan before the trolley goes in.
Cake icings and decorations.
Bright pink, yellow and red writing icings, sprinkle mixes and pre-iced biscuits.
Fizzy drinks and squashes.
Cheaper own-brand orange squashes, kids' fruit-flavour drinks, ice-pop syrups.
Jellies and packet desserts.
Powdered jelly crystals, instant trifle mixes, dessert pots in bright reds and oranges.
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Questions people ask
Children and additives FAQ
The questions parents send us most often. Sourced to the FSA, the Southampton study and UK retained EU law.
Do food additives cause hyperactivity in children?
The 2007 University of Southampton study, funded by the FSA, found that mixtures of six artificial food colours combined with sodium benzoate were linked to increased hyperactivity in some children. The FSA accepted the findings and asked manufacturers to remove these colours voluntarily; UK products that still contain them must carry a mandatory warning.
What are the Southampton Six food colours?
Tartrazine (E102), Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau 4R (E124), and Allura Red AC (E129). All six are artificial azo or synthetic colours used to dye sweets, drinks, baked goods and desserts bright yellow, orange or red.
Are artificial food colours banned in UK children's food?
Not banned. The FSA asked manufacturers to voluntarily remove the Southampton Six; many UK brands did. Products that still contain them must show the warning 'May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.' The warning is mandatory wording under UK retained EU Reg 1333/2008. For which additives are restricted or not permitted in the UK, see the full E-number A to Z.
How do I check if my child's food contains these additives?
Read the ingredient list for the six E numbers (E102, E104, E110, E122, E124, E129) or their names (Tartrazine, Quinoline Yellow, Sunset Yellow, Carmoisine, Ponceau 4R, Allura Red). Or scan the barcode and we count the additives we recognise on the pack; naming which of the six is there, and what the research says about it, is on Pro.
Should I put my child on an additive-free diet?
Many additives are uncontroversial natural substances (vitamin C is E300, citric acid is E330). The practical step that lines up with the FSA position is to recognise the Southampton Six on a label and decide for yourself. Anything beyond that, take to your GP or a registered dietitian.
2026Accuracy update
The warning remains current in 2026
UK guidance still requires food and drink containing any of the Southampton Six colours to carry the words “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children”. The six are E102, E104, E110, E122, E124 and E129. The warning does not mean every child will respond, and the FSA notes that hyperactivity can have other causes.
The colours can remain authorised for specified uses while also carrying this warning; authorisation and mandatory consumer information answer different questions. FSA food-additive guidance · GB regulated-products register
Last reviewed: 17 September 2026
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