Caustic sulphite caramel is the color the food industry lists as E150b. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: Group ADI of 300 mg/kg bw/day for the four caramel colours, with an individual ADI of 100 mg/kg bw/day for E 150c only, due to the immunotoxicity of THI 'found in E 150c only'. E 150b was below the group ADI in every cell of the exceedance table, children mean, children high level, adults mean, adults high level: 'from 22 to 110 mg/kg bw/day for adults respectively at the mean and high level and between 9 to 35 mg/kg bw/day at the mean and 18 to 117 mg/kg bw/day at high level for children' (10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2004 (Scientific Opinion on the re-evaluation of caramel colours E 150a,b,c,d), as quoted and tabulated in 10.2903/j.efsa.2012.3030 Table 1)
- No child flag. The class, and the points it costs, are the same for a child of any age.
- Where you meet it. It turns up in 2 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 4 citations from EFSA, EU law and the FDA, each one below.
What Caustic sulphite caramel 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. Caustic sulphite caramel takes no points off a product's score. 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.
See what is in your own cupboard
Scan a packaged food and Sito names the additives in it, then scores the product out of 100 for your child's age.
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.
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EFSA
10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2004 (Scientific Opinion on the re-evaluation of caramel colours E 150a,b,c,d), as quoted and tabulated in 10.2903/j.efsa.2012.3030 Table 1
Group ADI of 300 mg/kg bw/day for the four caramel colours, with an individual ADI of 100 mg/kg bw/day for E 150c only, due to the immunotoxicity of THI 'found in E 150c only'. E 150b was below the group ADI in every cell of the exceedance table — children mean, children high level, adults mean, adults high level: 'from 22 to 110 mg/kg bw/day for adults respectively at the mean and high level and between 9 to 35 mg/kg bw/day at the mean and 18 to 117 mg/kg bw/day at high level for children'. -
EFSA
10.2903/j.efsa.2012.3030 (EFSA Journal 2012;10(12):3030), Refined exposure assessment for caramel colours (E 150a, c, d)
'Given that the anticipated exposure to caramel colour E 150b was below the group ADI of 300 mg/kg bw/day established by the ANS Panel in 2011, the present statement does not include a refined dietary exposure for caramel colour E 150b.' E 150b was excluded from the refined assessment because it was the one class that did not exceed. The opinion also records that the minor constituents of caramel colours (4-MEI, THI and sulphur dioxide) 'did not give rise to public health concern' at the levels assessed. -
EU law
Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, consolidated text 02008R1333 — EN — 16.12.2024 — 059.001 (EUR-Lex), Annex II Part B 'List of all additives' and Annex III
E 150b is present in the Union list (Annex II Part B) as one of the four authorised caramel classes. -
FDA
21 CFR §73.85 (Caramel, colour additive exempt from certification); 21 CFR §182.1235 (caramel, GRAS, non-colour use)
US law does not distinguish the four EU caramel classes: §73.85 is a single listing whose identity paragraph permits sulfate and sulfite caramelisation aids, so E 150b, E 150c and E 150d all fall inside it. 'Caramel may be safely used for coloring foods generally, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice.' A US label reading only 'caramel color' therefore cannot be resolved to a class from the ingredient panel.
Why this class
Clean current EFSA and FDA status. These rows exist so that an unfamiliar additive is never treated as a bad one: a missing row costs a product nothing, and a clean row says so with citations.
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 Caustic sulphite caramel (E150b) safe for kids?
No risk identified. No regulator finding we score, so a product keeps its full additive subscore in Sito. The current status is clean: Group ADI of 300 mg/kg bw/day for the four caramel colours, with an individual ADI of 100 mg/kg bw/day for E 150c only, due to the immunotoxicity of THI 'found in E 150c only'. E 150b was below the group ADI in every cell of the exceedance table, children mean, children high level, adults mean, adults high level: 'from 22 to 110 mg/kg bw/day for adults respectively at the mean and high level and between 9 to 35 mg/kg bw/day at the mean and 18 to 117 mg/kg bw/day at high level for children' (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2004 (Scientific Opinion on the re-evaluation of caramel colours E 150a,b,c,d), as quoted and tabulated in 10.2903/j.efsa.2012.3030 Table 1).
What is E150b?
E150b is the E number for Caustic sulphite caramel, a color. It is one of the forms of E150 (Caramel) in our table, with E150a, E150c and E150d. Open Food Facts tags it en:e150b.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E150b in our table, then the closest colors by number.
- Caramel (E150), moderate risk, flagged for young children
- Plain caramel (E150a), no risk identified
- Ammonia caramel (E150c), moderate risk, flagged for young children
- Sulphite ammonia caramel (E150d), moderate risk
- Brilliant Black BN (E151), no risk identified
- Vegetable carbon (E153), low risk