Name: NaTasha
Message: Hello,
Can you tell me the names of the Red and Blue that are legal in the US for food coloring please?

This question is answered on my page on "Using Food Coloring as a Textile Dye for Protein Fibers". Scroll down to the table that lists "Which dyes are used in food coloring?", together with their FD&C numbers and the E numbers used in Europe.

The legal synthetic food colorings in the US are allura red, brilliant blue FCF (also known as erioglaucine), sunset yellow FCF, indigotine, fast green FCF, erythrosine, and tartrazine.

Natural food dyes are also in use, including beet extract and carminic acid (from cochineal insects). There is no FD&C-approved blue food dye, however. Indigotine is a synthetic relative of natural indigo dye.

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