Chin Zan Xin
05 Jun 2024
Food colourings are food additives that add or restore colour to food. They are typically used in very small amounts to achieve the colour needed and labelled as “E numbers” or generally as “colourings” on food packaging.
An example is Sunset yellow FCF, sometimes labelled as E110, a permitted yellow food colouring commonly used in beverages and food products like kaya spread or sweets.
© 2026 Singapore Food Agency
Last Updated 04 Jul 2026
Like other food additives, all food colourings must be approved by SFA before they can be allowed for use in food sold in Singapore. Similarly, when assessing the safety of a food colourings, SFA takes reference from the assessments by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
Under the Singapore Food Regulations, only permitted colourings are allowed to be used in food and SFA has in place a food sampling and testing programme to ensure compliance with these regulations.
More information on the safety of food additives can be found here: Food additives – are they safe?
Food colourings which are not listed in our Food Regulations are not permitted. Some of these unapproved colourings are deemed unsafe due to evidence of carcinogenicity. Examples of such colourings include Sudan dyes, Rhodamine B, Dimethyl Yellow and Toluidine Red. To ensure that these non-permitted colourings are not found in food sold in Singapore, SFA conducts regular market surveillance across various food & beverage categories. SFA adopts a risk-based approach to food safety, with an integrated system to ensure that both imported and locally produced food are safe for consumption. Food which are found to be non-compliant with the established standards are not allowed for sale.
Chin Zan Xin is a Senior Scientist from from the Food Science Rapid Response Department of the National Centre for Food Science. She has a Bachelor Degree (Chemistry, Honours) from the National University of Singapore and is currently responsible for matters related to food additives in food.
