Home / Additive Table / Beta-apo-8'-carotenal (E160e)

Beta-apo-8'-carotenal (C30) (E160e)

Table v1.3 (data as of 14 Aug 2026), page updated 26 Sep 2026

Beta-apo-8'-carotenal (C30) is the color the food industry lists as E160e. In our table it is low risk: it takes 6 points off the additive subscore (about 2 of the 100).

In short
  • The key finding, from EFSA: Re-evaluation set an ADI of 0.05 mg/kg bw/day; Tier-2 exposure for children (mean 0.5-3.4, P95 1.2-7.2 mg/kg bw/day) was far above it (10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2499)
  • Flagged for young children. Set only where EFSA’s own exposure assessment shows toddlers or children exceeding or approaching the ADI, or where a regulator used explicitly child-specific language. For a child under 6 it moves up one class, to moderate risk.
  • Where you meet it. It turns up in 9 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in chocolate and juice drinks. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
  • 2 citations from EFSA, each one below.

What Beta-apo-8'-carotenal does to a score

A packaged food's additive subscore starts at 100 and loses points for each additive on the label; that subscore is a third of the final score. Beta-apo-8'-carotenal takes 6 points off the additive subscore (about 2 of the 100), and a child under 6 sees it one class higher again. Scan the pack in Sito and the score you get is the one for your own child's age, with this additive named in the reasons. How we score has the whole method.

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Scan a packaged food and Sito names the additives in it, then scores the product out of 100 for your child's age.

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Sito app: a cereal scored 30 out of 100 for a child's age Sito app: logging a child's meal from a photo

What the sources found

Every classification in our table comes from the citations below, and nothing else. Each finding is our one-line summary of what the source concluded, with the source and reference beside it.

  • EFSA 10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2499
    Re-evaluation set an ADI of 0.05 mg/kg bw/day; Tier-2 exposure for children (mean 0.5-3.4, P95 1.2-7.2 mg/kg bw/day) was far above it.
  • EFSA 10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3492
    ADI reconsidered upward to 0.3 mg/kg bw/day (NOAEL 30 mg/kg bw/day, 13-week rat study, UF 100); high-level toddler exposure of up to 0.45 mg/kg bw/day still exceeds it.

Why this class

A credible adverse or precautionary signal that stops short of every Moderate and High criterion: peer-reviewed adverse findings not yet reflected in regulatory status, an exposure exceedance confined to high-percentile or single-event estimates, or a precautionary regulatory step short of those criteria, a reduced ADI, a data limitation noted without an adverse conclusion, a narrowed or conditioned authorisation, or a child-focused assessment or school-food law that covers the additive as part of a class.

Our confidence in this row's classification is high. Medium or low does not mean the evidence is weak; it means something about the row is still being pinned down, usually a regulatory status confirmed from one source rather than two.

Questions parents ask

Is Beta-apo-8'-carotenal (E160e) safe for kids?

Low risk. In Sito it takes 6 points off the additive subscore (about 2 of the 100). It is flagged for young children, so for a child under 6 it moves up one class, to moderate risk: 15 points off the additive subscore. The finding we rely on: Re-evaluation set an ADI of 0.05 mg/kg bw/day; Tier-2 exposure for children (mean 0.5-3.4, P95 1.2-7.2 mg/kg bw/day) was far above it (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2499).

What is E160e?

E160e is the E number for Beta-apo-8'-carotenal (C30), a color. It is one of the forms of E160 (Carotenoids) in our table, with E160a, E160b and E160c. Open Food Facts tags it en:e160e.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E160e in our table, then the closest colors by number.

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