Home / Additive Table / Ponceau 4R (E124)

Ponceau 4R (E124)

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

Ponceau 4R is the color the food industry lists as E124. In our table it is moderate risk: it takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100).

In short
  • The key finding, from EFSA: ADI reduced from 4 to 0.7 mg/kg bw/day (NOAEL 70 mg/kg bw/day, mouse glomerulonephrosis); at maximum use levels, intakes for 1-10-year-old children at the MEAN and high percentiles are generally above the ADI even in refined estimates (10.2903/j.efsa.2009.1328)
  • 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 high risk.
  • 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).
  • 3 citations from EFSA and EU law, each one below.

What Ponceau 4R 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. Ponceau 4R takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 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.

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.

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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.2009.1328
    ADI reduced from 4 to 0.7 mg/kg bw/day (NOAEL 70 mg/kg bw/day, mouse glomerulonephrosis); at maximum use levels, intakes for 1-10-year-old children at the MEAN and high percentiles are generally above the ADI even in refined estimates.
  • EFSA 10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4073
    After 24 MPLs were withdrawn and 29 reduced, no exposure estimate exceeded the ADI of 0.7 mg/kg bw/day in any population group.
  • EU law Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex V
    Mandatory child activity/attention warning label.

Why this class

IARC Group 2B; or an EFSA re-evaluation that flagged genotoxicity data gaps, found safety could not be assessed on the available data, or cut the ADI citing child exposure; or an EU harmonised classification of the substance as a reproductive or developmental hazard; or an EU withdrawal of one authorised food use while others remain; or an OEHHA/Proposition 65 listing; or membership of the Southampton-six colourants.

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 Ponceau 4R (E124) safe for kids?

Moderate risk. In Sito it takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100). It is flagged for young children, so for a child under 6 it moves up one class, to high risk: 30 points off the additive subscore. The finding we rely on: ADI reduced from 4 to 0.7 mg/kg bw/day (NOAEL 70 mg/kg bw/day, mouse glomerulonephrosis); at maximum use levels, intakes for 1-10-year-old children at the MEAN and high percentiles are generally above the ADI even in refined estimates (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2009.1328).

What is E124?

E124 is the E number for Ponceau 4R, a color. Open Food Facts tags it en:e124.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E124 in our table, then the closest colors by number.

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