Caramel colour I (plain)

Caramel colour I (E150a) is produced by the controlled heat treatment of food-grade carbohydrates — sucrose, glucose, fructose, or invert sugar — without the use of ammonium or sulphite compounds. The resulting brown pigment is one of the simplest and oldest food colours, essentially heated sugar, and is widely used in beverages, sauces, gravies, bread, and confectionery to produce brown to amber tones. Caramel colour I is distinguished from the other three caramel colour types by its production method, which avoids the reactants associated with concern in types III and IV.

JECFA evaluated Caramel colour I in 1984 and assigned an ADI of "not specified," meaning no upper limit is considered necessary at typical dietary intakes from food additive use. This classification reflects the view that plain caramel, produced only from heat treatment of sugars, presents no toxicological concern at achievable exposure levels. No EFSA ADI value for Caramel colour I appears in the EFSA OpenFoodTox 3.0 database.

Caramel colour I is approved across the EU, United States, Japan, South Korea, and virtually all global food markets. Of the four caramel colour types, it carries the fewest regulatory concerns. Consumers need not distinguish it from natural caramelisation of sugars during cooking, as the chemical transformation involved is equivalent. It is one of the few additive-process colourants with a "not specified" ADI — the designation reserved for substances where setting a numerical limit is unnecessary due to the absence of safety concerns at feasible intake levels.