Fast Green FCF (Green 3) (E143)

Fast Green FCF (Green 3) is the color the food industry lists as E143. In our table it is low risk: it takes 6 points off the additive subscore (about 2 of the 100).

What Green 3 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. Green 3 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.

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.

• OEHHA (2021) 'Health Effects Assessment: Potential Neurobehavioral Effects of Synthetic Food Dyes in Children'; peer-reviewed synthesis Miller et al., Environmental Health 2022
  Green 3 is one of the seven dyes assessed. OEHHA's overall conclusion is that synthetic food dyes can impact neurobehavior in some children; its review of human studies suggests that synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral effects, such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity and restlessness in sensitive children, and that some children are likely to be more adversely affected than others. The assessment is not a Proposition 65 listing, so it does not meet our Moderate-risk criterion, and the authors concede the class conclusion rides on azo-dye data: of 25 challenge trials, six tested tartrazine alone and the rest tested azo-dominated mixtures, with 'no suitable studies of green or blue dyes' found for the animal neurotoxicity comparison.
• US state law US-CA: AB 2316 (California School Food Safety Act) ; US-WV: HB 2354 (school provisions in force 2025-08-01)
  Green 3 is named in both school-food statutes — barred from California public-school food from 2027-12-31 and already barred from WV school food. This child-specific regulatory language is the basis for higher-concern-for-young-children flag, exactly as on E 132 and E 133.
• FDA 'Tracking Food Industry Pledges to Remove Petroleum Based Food Dyes' (fda.gov); FD&C Green No. 3 listed at 21 CFR 74.203
  Green 3 is in the VOLUNTARY industry phase-out FDA targets by the end of 2027 and remains legally authorised as a certified colour additive in the meantime. Voluntary policy, not a toxicological finding and not a ban — so it does not change the class, the same treatment this table gives Red 40.
• IARC Monographs Vol. 16 (Fast Green FCF); IARC classification list
  Fast Green FCF is IARC Group 3 — not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans. Group 3 meets neither the High-risk criterion (Group 1 or 2A) nor the Moderate-risk criterion (Group 2B).
• Agency review JECFA evaluations — Fast Green FCF (WHO/FAO JECFA database)
  ADI 0-25 mg/kg bw/day. No exceedance has been reported for any population group, and no EFSA opinion exists because Green 3 is not authorised in the EU — which under this table's E 927a precedent is non-authorisation, not a ban.

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 medium. 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 Green 3 (E143) 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: Green 3 is one of the seven dyes assessed. OEHHA's overall conclusion is that synthetic food dyes can impact neurobehavior in some children; its review of human studies suggests that synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral effects, such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity and restlessness in sensitive children, and that some children are likely to be more adversely affected than others. The assessment is not a Proposition 65 listing, so it does not meet our Moderate-risk criterion, and the authors concede the class conclusion rides on azo-dye data: of 25 challenge trials, six tested tartrazine alone and the rest tested azo-dominated mixtures, with 'no suitable studies of green or blue dyes' found for the animal neurotoxicity comparison (OEHHA (2021) 'Health Effects Assessment: Potential Neurobehavioral Effects of Synthetic Food Dyes in Children'; peer-reviewed synthesis Miller et al., Environmental Health 2022).

What is E143?

E143 is the E number for Fast Green FCF, a color. It is also called Green 3. Open Food Facts tags it en:e143.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E143 in our table, then the closest colors by number.

• Chlorophylls and chlorophyllins (E140), no risk identified
• Chlorophylls (E140i), no risk identified
• Chlorophyllins (E140ii), moderate risk
• Copper complexes of chlorophylls and chlorophyllins (E141), moderate risk
• Green S (E142), no risk identified
• Caramel (E150), moderate risk, flagged for young children