Quinoline Yellow

Quinoline Yellow (E104) is a synthetic coal-tar-derived dye used to produce greenish-yellow colours in food products such as smoked fish, certain confectionery, soft drinks, and alcoholic beverages. It is a mixture of disodium salts of sulfonic acid esters of 2-(2-quinolyl)indan-1,3-dione, available in both oil-soluble and water-soluble forms. Its distinctive dull yellow shade is valued in applications where brighter yellow dyes are considered too vivid.

JECFA evaluated Quinoline Yellow in 1984 and established an ADI of 0–10 mg per kg body weight per day. For a 70 kg adult this means up to 700 mg per day can be consumed from food additive sources without expected long-term harm. No EFSA numerical ADI figure is available for Quinoline Yellow in the EFSA OpenFoodTox 3.0 database. The 1984 evaluation remains the most recent JECFA assessment on file.

Quinoline Yellow is subject to the EU mandatory hyperactivity warning label under Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V, despite not being an azo dye. It is banned in the United States, Australia, and Norway but permitted in the EU, UK, and several other markets. Its use is declining in Europe as manufacturers reformulate products with natural colour alternatives to avoid the warning label obligation.