What it is made from
Red 40 is a certified colour, so every batch has to be certified under the FDA’s rules. Its legal definition is a chemical one: a disodium salt of an azo compound. The regulation states it in one sentence:
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The color additive FD&C Red No. 40 is principally the disodium salt of 6-hydroxy-5-…2-naphthalenesulfonic acid.
The EU’s specification for E129 describes the same salt:
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Allura Red AC consists essentially of disodium 2-hydroxy-1-(2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfonato-phenylazo) naphthalene-6-sulfonate
The two texts number the naphthalene ring differently, but both describe the same disodium azo salt with the same methoxy and sulfophenyl groups. The FDA says where certified colours come from:
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Although certifiable color additives have been called coal-tar colors because of their traditional origins, today they are synthesized mainly from raw materials obtained from petroleum or coal.
Nothing in the regulation or the FDA’s account names an animal input.
How it differs from carmine
The insect red is carmine, also sold as cochineal extract or E120. The FDA sorts colours into two groups, and the two reds sit in different ones:
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Color additives exempt from certification generally include those derived from plant or mineral sources. One, cochineal extract (and its lake, carmine), is derived from an insect.
Red 40 sits in the certified group. The same FDA page describes that group:
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Color additives subject to batch certification are generally synthetic organic dyes, lakes, or pigments. Those for food use are chemically classified as azo, xanthene, triphenylmethane, and indigoid dyes.
Carmine sits in the exempt group, and Red 40 sits in the certified one.
Why some vegans avoid it anyway
The asterisk comes from the approval process. The US rule for a colour petition says what its safety reports should contain:
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A petition will be regarded as incomplete unless it includes full reports of adequate tests reasonably applicable to show whether or not the color additive will be safe for its intended use. The reports ordinarily should include detailed data derived from appropriate animal and other biological experiments in which the methods used and the results obtained are clearly set forth.
That rule describes what a petition ordinarily contains. It does not list the studies run on Red 40 itself, so the species and numbers behind its listing are not on this page.
The vegan standard here is the Vegan Society’s definition:
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Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose
The ingredient list cannot settle whether testing in a colour’s history counts against it, so that call falls to the reader.
What changed, and when
The FDA has moved on several dyes since 2025, and its timetable for Red 40 has changed once already. Red No. 3 came first. The FDA’s tracker dates its revocation to January 15, 2025, and the Federal Register order sets the food deadline in these words:
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This order is effective January 15, 2027, except for amendatory instruction 4, which is effective January 18, 2028.
On April 22, 2025, HHS and the FDA announced a plan that named Red 40 among six synthetic dyes. Its target was the end of next year, meaning 2026:
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Working with industry to eliminate six remaining synthetic dyes—FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2—from the food supply by the end of next year.
On July 22, 2026, the FDA finalised the revocation of Orange B and proposed revoking Citrus Red No. 2:
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The FDA is issuing a final order revoking the authorized use of Orange B as a color additive in food and is proposing to revoke the authorized use of Citrus Red No. 2 as a color additive in food.
The FDA’s tracker, current as of October 16, 2026, gives the same six dyes a later date:
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eliminate six remaining certified color additives frequently used in the food supply—FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2—by the end of 2027.
The tracker gives no reason for the later date, and it calls the company commitments voluntary. Red 40 is still listed for food in 21 CFR 74.340, and the tracker describes its removal as a target.
Reading a label
In the US, a certified colour has to be declared by its name. The rule lets the maker drop the FD&C prefix and the word No., so the same dye can appear as FD&C Red No. 40 or as Red 40:
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A color additive or the lake of a color additive subject to certification under 721(c) of the act shall be declared by the name of the color additive listed in the applicable regulation in part 74 or part 82 of this chapter, except that it is not necessary to include the “FD&C” prefix or the term “No.” in the declaration
The ‘no artificial colors’ claim needs care here. In the labelling regulation, artificial colour means any colour additive, carmine included:
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The term artificial color or artificial coloring means any “color additive” as defined in § 70.3(f) of this chapter.
On February 5, 2026, the FDA announced flexibility for the claim:
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Companies will now have flexibility to claim products contain ‘no artificial colors’ when the products do not contain petroleum-based colors.
So a product with carmine and no petroleum-based colour can carry the claim, and the insect question is answered only by the ingredient name.
In the EU and UK the same colour is E129. The UK copy of the annex sets a warning for foods that contain it:
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‘name or E number of the colour(s)’: may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.
The warning concerns children’s activity and attention and says nothing about animals. Allura red (E 129) is Red 40 under its EU and UK name, so the warning covers the same dye.
The other synthetic dyes
Red 40 is an azo dye, and the FDA lists azo as one of the four chemical classes for food dyes. The other certified dyes, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3, sit in the same certified group, so the ingredient answer is the same for them as far as the FDA’s description goes. The petition testing question applies to each, because the petition rule covers every colour additive.