Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1: The Other FDA Dyes Being Phased Out
Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1 are three of the six synthetic dyes the FDA asked manufacturers to voluntarily phase out by the end of 2026 — none is banned. Yellow 5 is the only one the FDA forces onto the label by name (21 CFR 74.705); the EU warns on Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 but not Blue 1.
The short version
Yellow 5 (tartrazine), Yellow 6 (Sunset Yellow), and Blue 1 (Brilliant Blue FCF) are three of the six synthetic dyes the FDA asked manufacturers to voluntarily phase out by the end of 2026. None is banned. Yellow 5 is the one the FDA singles out — 21 CFR 74.705 forces it to be named on the label, not hidden under "color added."
Are Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1 banned?
No — and the gap between "banned" and what actually happened is the whole story. On April 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA announced a plan to phase out six petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the food supply by the end of 2026: FD&C Green No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, and Blue No. 2. The FDA's own framing is that it is "working with industry to eliminate" them — and the operative word, as the Center for Science in the Public Interest pointed out, is voluntary. It is an industry "understanding," not a rule.
So three of those six are our subject: Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1. They are still legal, still certified by the FDA batch-by-batch, and still in thousands of products on the shelf today. The one dye that was formally revoked is Red No. 3 — pulled in January 2025 under the Delaney Clause, with a compliance deadline of 2027. (We covered the full timeline, the state laws, and the brand-by-brand pledge list in our red-dye-40 piece.) Everything below is about reading the label that's in your hand right now — because a pledge for 2027 doesn't change today's box.
What's the difference between Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1?
Two of the three are chemically the same kind of molecule; the third is a different animal entirely — and that difference drives almost everything that follows.
Yellow 5 (tartrazine, E102) and Yellow 6 (Sunset Yellow FCF, E110) are both azo dyes — synthetic colors built around a nitrogen-nitrogen double bond, made by diazotizing a petroleum-derived sulfonic acid and coupling it. The FDA's own chemical definitions confirm the family: 21 CFR 74.705 describes Yellow 5 as a compound whose name literally contains "...-azo-...," and 21 CFR 74.706 defines Yellow 6 as "the disodium salt of 6-hydroxy-5-[(4-sulfophenyl)azo]-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid."
Blue 1 (Brilliant Blue FCF, E133) is a triarylmethane dye — no azo bond, a completely different structure. That single fact is why the azo-specific concerns (the EU children's-behavior warning, the aromatic-amine impurity questions) attach to the two yellows but not to the blue. Here's the side-by-side:
| Yellow 5 | Yellow 6 | Blue 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common name | Tartrazine | Sunset Yellow FCF | Brilliant Blue FCF |
| EU E-number | E102 | E110 | E133 |
| Chemical class | Azo dye | Azo dye | Triarylmethane |
| FDA listing | 21 CFR 74.705 | 21 CFR 74.706 | 21 CFR 74.101 |
| Must be named on U.S. food labels? | Yes | No (generic "color added" allowed) | No |
| On the EU children's-behavior warning list? | Yes | Yes | No |
Why does Yellow 5 (tartrazine) have to be listed by name?
Because the FDA decided, decades ago, that this one dye is different — and the rule is still on the books. Most color additives can hide in an ingredient list as "color added" or "artificial color." Yellow 5 cannot. The labeling subsection of its own regulation, 21 CFR 74.705(d)(2), is explicit:
"Foods for human use that contain FD&C Yellow No. 5, including butter, cheese, and ice cream, shall specifically declare the presence of FD&C Yellow No. 5 by listing the color additive as FD&C Yellow No. 5 among the list of ingredients." — 21 CFR 74.705
The reason is sensitivity. A small fraction of people react to tartrazine, and the FDA goes even further for prescription drugs. Under 21 CFR 201.20, a prescription drug containing Yellow 5 must carry this in its precautions:
"This product contains FD&C Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine) which may cause allergic-type reactions (including bronchial asthma) in certain susceptible persons. Although the overall incidence of FD&C Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine) sensitivity in the general population is low, it is frequently seen in patients who also have aspirin hypersensitivity." — 21 CFR 201.20
Keep the two rules in their own lanes: the by-name food declaration (74.705) and the prescription-drug aspirin-sensitivity warning (201.20) are separate regulations. But they point the same direction — Yellow 5 is the dye the FDA singled out for disclosure. Yellow 6 carries no equivalent by-name requirement on food labels, which means it can legally sit on your snack as nothing more than "color added." That asymmetry is worth knowing: the dye with the lighter U.S. labeling rule is the chemical near-twin of the one the FDA singled out, and it sits on the same EU warning list.
What's the warning on these dyes in Europe?
Europe took a different route — not a ban, but a sentence on the package. Under Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 (Annex V), foods containing any of six specific colours must carry a mandatory line: the colour "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." The six — nicknamed the "Southampton Six" — are, verbatim from the regulation:
Sunset yellow (E 110); Quinoline yellow (E 104); Carmoisine (E 122); Allura red (E 129); Tartrazine (E 102); Ponceau 4R (E 124). — Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex V
Two of our three are on it: Yellow 5 (E102) and Yellow 6 (E110). Blue 1 (E133) is not — another consequence of it being a different kind of molecule.
That warning traces to the 2007 Southampton study (McCann et al., published in The Lancet), a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 153 three-year-olds and 144 eight-to-nine-year-olds from the general population. Its published conclusion: "artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population." The mixes it tested included tartrazine and sunset yellow — but they were mixes (several dyes plus a preservative), so the study could not pin the effect on any single dye.
Here's the honest tension: Europe added the warning label as a precaution, but its own science agency pumped the brakes. The European Food Safety Authority reviewed the Southampton study and concluded it "could not be used as a basis for altering the ADI" — the acceptable daily intake — "of the respective food colours or sodium benzoate." A regulator can act cautiously while its scientists say the data don't justify changing the safety numbers. Both things are true at once, and anyone selling you certainty in either direction is overselling.
Is Blue 1 the safest of the three?
By the weight of the evidence, Blue 1 carries the fewest open questions of the three — but it has one documented event that gets badly misquoted, so it's worth getting exactly right. Blue 1 is a triarylmethane dye, it's absent from the EU's Southampton Six warning list, and EFSA found no concern at normal food exposures.
Its one serious signal came from a use that has nothing to do with candy. A September 2003 FDA Public Health Advisory flagged Blue 1 when it was added to tube-feeding (enteral) formula to help detect aspiration in critically ill patients. Over roughly three decades of that practice, the FDA's language was sober:
"There have been 12 reported deaths and one case with an unknown outcome... A causal relationship between systemic absorption of Blue 1 and the reported serious and life-threatening patient outcomes (including death) has not been definitively established." — FDA Public Health Advisory, September 2003
Read that precisely. It describes Blue 1 being absorbed through the gut of critically ill, tube-fed patients — not anyone eating it in a sports drink — and the FDA explicitly did not establish that Blue 1 caused the deaths. If you see "Blue 1 killed 12 people," that's a splice of a real advisory onto a false context. The accurate version: Blue 1 prompted a 2003 FDA advisory about a specific medical use, and it remains the least-flagged of the three dyes in food.
What foods contain Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1?
All three cluster in the brightly colored, heavily processed aisle — and like every certified dye, they're listed by name (or as "color added") near the bottom of the panel, in the smallest type. We name categories, not specific products' current formulas, because brands are reformulating constantly right now and today's label is the only source of truth.
- Yellow 5 (tartrazine): soft drinks and sports drinks, candy, powdered drink mixes, snack chips, cereals, gelatin desserts, some mustards and pickles, boxed macaroni-style products, and many children's medications.
- Yellow 6 (Sunset Yellow): cheese-flavored snacks, orange and citrus drinks, candy, baked goods, gelatin, some sauces and processed cheese.
- Blue 1 (Brilliant Blue): blue and green candy, sports drinks, ice pops, frostings, some cereals, mouthwash, and certain medications. (Mix Blue 1 with a yellow and you get the greens.)
The pattern that survives any reformulation is the placement: synthetic dyes live at the end of the ingredient list, after everything that sounds wholesome, in nine-point type. The order is by weight — dyes are a tiny fraction — but the effect is that the thing some shoppers most want to spot is the last thing they read.
What should you actually do about these dyes?
Stop waiting on the 2026 phase-out and read the bottom of the list today. The dyes are legal, common, and — for now — still in plain sight on products whose fronts say nothing about them.
Our read on the three: Yellow 5 is the one with the clearest paper trail — the FDA forces it onto the label and warns about it on prescription drugs, and the EU flags it for kids. Yellow 6 sits right beside it chemically but with a lighter labeling rule, which is exactly why it's easy to miss. Blue 1 is the least-flagged of the three, with one real but context-specific medical advisory that doesn't apply to eating it. None of the three is doing anything for you nutritionally — they're there to make the product a certain color. So set "Yellow 5," "Yellow 6," or "synthetic dyes" as a sensitivity in your profile, and let every scan surface them instead of letting nine-point type do the hiding. Read the panel, and decide on purpose.
Sources
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. HHS, FDA to Phase Out Petroleum-Based Synthetic Dyes in Nation's Food Supply (April 22, 2025). fda.gov
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration / Cornell LII. 21 CFR § 74.705 — FD&C Yellow No. 5. law.cornell.edu
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration / Cornell LII. 21 CFR § 74.706 — FD&C Yellow No. 6. law.cornell.edu
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration / Cornell LII. 21 CFR § 74.101 — FD&C Blue No. 1. law.cornell.edu
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration / Cornell LII. 21 CFR § 201.20 — Declaration of presence of FD&C Yellow No. 5 and/or FD&C Yellow No. 6 in certain drugs for human use. law.cornell.edu
- European Union. Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on food additives — Annex V (foods requiring the children's-behavior warning). legislation.gov.uk
- McCann D, et al. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet, 2007. thelancet.com
- European Food Safety Authority. EFSA evaluates Southampton study on food additives and child behaviour. efsa.europa.eu
- European Food Safety Authority. Re-evaluation of Tartrazine (E 102). EFSA Journal, 2009. efsa.europa.eu
- State of Delaware, Division of Public Health (reproducing the FDA advisory). FDA Public Health Advisory: Subject: Reports of Blue Discoloration and Death in Patients Receiving Enteral Feedings Tinted With the Dye FD&C Blue No. 1 (September 2003). dhss.delaware.gov
- Center for Science in the Public Interest. FDA's "plan" to remove food dyes: industry "understanding." cspi.org
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA to Revoke Authorization for the Use of Red No. 3 in Food and Ingested Drugs (Jan. 15, 2025). fda.gov