Caramel colour is burnt sugar, more or less, the brown in cola and gravy browning. It is almost always vegan, with a rare footnote about the sugar it starts from.
Made byHeat treatment of sugars
E numberE150
VerdictUsually vegan
Where it hides
Colas and soft drinks
Sauces, gravy browning and soy sauce
Baked goods and confectionery
Beer and spirits
What it is
Caramel colour is the most widely used food colouring in the world, the brown in cola, soy sauce and gravy browning. It is made by controlled heating of sugar.
Primary source 01 / 01
Caramel color is manufactured by heating carbohydrates, either alone or in the presence of acids, alkalis, and/or salts.
The carbohydrate is nearly always a plant sugar such as glucose or sucrose from corn, wheat or cane, which makes caramel colour vegan in practice. The reason it is usually rather than always is that the source carbohydrate can in principle be lactose from milk, so a strict reading leaves a small caveat that a manufacturer can clear up.
Annatto (E160b)Annatto is the orange in a lot of cheddar and snack dust. It comes from a seed, so on the vegan test it is a clear pass, even when the food around it is not.
Beta-carotene (E160a)Beta-carotene is the orange in carrots, bottled as a colour and a supplement. The pigment is plant or lab-made; the only animal risk is the capsule it sometimes rides in.
MaltodextrinMaltodextrin is processed plant starch, a bland filler and bulking agent. Corn, wheat or tapioca in, white powder out, no animal step.
Frequently asked
Is E150 vegan?
Almost always. Caramel colour is made by heating sugars, typically from corn, wheat or cane, so it is generally vegan. The only caveat is a rare lactose-derived batch.
Is the caramel colour in cola vegan?
Yes in practice. Cola caramel colour is made from plant sugars, so it is vegan.
The sources
What each verdict rests on. Read them yourself.
Caramel color · Wikipedia, 2025 · encyclopedia overview
Read the label with us, every morning.
The same clear-eyed sourcing behind these verdicts, applied to each day’s news: what actually moved veganism forward, quoted and checked before you read it. One short brief, free.
