Brilliant Blue FCF
Brilliant Blue FCF (E133) is a synthetic blue dye used in sweets, ice cream and drinks. Unlike the six "Southampton" colours it carries no mandatory children's warning, and EFSA set an acceptable daily intake of 6 mg per kg of body weight when it re-evaluated the colour in 2010.
Brilliant Blue FCF is a water-soluble synthetic triarylmethane dye — a different chemical class from the azo dyes that carry the EU children's warning. It is used for colour alone and has no nutritional function.
EFSA re-evaluated it in 2010 and set an acceptable daily intake of 6 mg/kg body weight, noting that absorption from the gastrointestinal tract is very low. It is authorised in the EU under Regulation 1333/2008 and in the US as FD&C Blue No. 1.
On the label
- E-number
- E133
- INS number
- INS 133
- Functional class
- Colour
- Also known as
- FD&C Blue 1 · Colour 133 · INS 133 · Acid Blue 9
Frequently asked questions
Yes — it contains no animal-derived material. It is a synthetic triarylmethane dye made from petroleum-derived precursors. The same applies to a vegetarian diet.
Yes — the additive itself contains no gluten. A gluten-free claim belongs to the finished product, though — check the pack, not the additive.
It is a synthetic triarylmethane dye made from petroleum-derived precursors and contains no animal-derived material, so the additive itself is not inherently non-halal. Certification applies to a finished product rather than to an additive, so a halal certification mark on the pack is the authoritative signal.
Brilliant Blue FCF is authorised in the EU with an EFSA acceptable daily intake of 6 mg per kg of body weight, set at its 2010 re-evaluation. It is not one of the six colours that carry the children's activity-and-attention warning. Very little of it is absorbed from the gut, and reported reactions are rare.