Paprika extract is the color the food industry lists as E160c. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: ADI established at 1.7 mg carotenoids/kg bw/day (24 mg paprika extract/kg bw/day); refined exposure estimates below the ADI in all scenarios; no genotoxic, reproductive or carcinogenic effects at doses well above estimated intakes (10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4320)
- 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 172 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in chips, sauces and ready meals. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 1 citation from EFSA, each one below.
What Paprika extract 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. Paprika extract 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.2015.4320
ADI established at 1.7 mg carotenoids/kg bw/day (24 mg paprika extract/kg bw/day); refined exposure estimates below the ADI in all scenarios; no genotoxic, reproductive or carcinogenic effects at doses well above estimated intakes.
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 Paprika extract (E160c) 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: ADI established at 1.7 mg carotenoids/kg bw/day (24 mg paprika extract/kg bw/day); refined exposure estimates below the ADI in all scenarios; no genotoxic, reproductive or carcinogenic effects at doses well above estimated intakes (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4320).
What is E160c?
E160c is the E number for Paprika extract, a color. It is one of the forms of E160 (Carotenoids) in our table, with E160a, E160b and E160e. Open Food Facts tags it en:e160c.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E160c in our table, then the closest colors by number.
- Carotenoids (E160), no risk identified
- Carotenes (E160a), no risk identified
- Annatto (E160b), low risk, flagged for young children
- Beta-apo-8'-carotenal (E160e), low risk, flagged for young children
- Lutein (E161b), low risk, flagged for young children
- Beetroot red (E162), no risk identified