Tartrazine is a synthetic lemon-yellow dye derived from petroleum. It has no nutritional value and serves a single purpose: making food look more vivid and appealing. It is one of the most studied food additives in the world, and also one of the most controversial. In India it is permitted under FSSAI regulations and appears widely across packaged food, from instant noodle masala sachets to flavoured drinks, sweets, and namkeen.

Tartrazine is one of the Southampton Six, a group of synthetic dyes linked to increased hyperactivity in children in a landmark 2007 study. The European Union now requires a warning on every product containing it. India has no equivalent requirement.

What the research says

The evidence on tartrazine is more substantial than for most permitted food dyes. It has been studied specifically, not just as part of general additive reviews, and the findings are consistent enough that regulators in multiple countries have acted on them.

• Linked to hyperactivity in children. The 2007 Southampton study, published in The Lancet, found that a mixture including tartrazine significantly increased hyperactive behaviour in children aged 3 and 8 to 9. This triggered an EFSA review and led the EU to mandate warning labels reading “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children” on all products containing it.
• Banned in several countries. Tartrazine is banned for use in food in Norway and Austria. In the United States it requires mandatory label disclosure. In India it is permitted with no special labelling requirement beyond listing it by name or INS number in the ingredients list.
• Can trigger reactions in aspirin-sensitive individuals. There is documented cross-reactivity between tartrazine and aspirin in people with aspirin intolerance. Reactions include hives, itching, and in rare cases breathing difficulties.
• No evidence of carcinogenicity. Multiple independent reviews have found no credible link between tartrazine and cancer. The specific concern is behavioural effects in children and sensitivity reactions, not long-term toxicity in adults at normal dietary intake.

Where you will find it in India

Tartrazine is common across several Indian packaged food categories. The highest-risk categories are instant noodle masala sachets, flavoured drink powders and concentrates, packaged sweets and mithai, coloured namkeen and chips, flavoured dairy products, and some breakfast cereals. It also appears frequently in pharmaceutical syrups and vitamin supplements, which most people do not think to check for food dyes.

How to spot it on a label

On Indian packaging, tartrazine will appear as Tartrazine, INS 102, or E102 in the ingredients list. Some manufacturers list it as a “permitted food colour” without naming the specific dye, which is a labelling gap FSSAI has not yet closed. As a rule, any product with a strong artificial yellow or orange colour is worth checking. The colour is almost never from turmeric or other natural sources in mass-market packaged food.

Natural alternatives

Turmeric extract (INS 100) and beta-carotene (INS 160a) both produce yellow and orange colours naturally and are available to food manufacturers at a comparable cost. Better-formulated products in the same categories do use them. Their presence on a label is a reliable signal of a more considered ingredient approach.