Ingredient Index · E132
Is Blue 2 banned in Europe?
No: Blue 2 (indigotine, E132) is authorized in both the EU and the US, with no EU warning label. It is included in America's voluntary dye phase-out, but that is a pledge program, not a ban on either continent.
What the EU does
Authorized without a warning. Indigotine sits on the EU Union list as E132, and unlike the six Southampton dyes it carries no children's-attention warning label. EFSA re-evaluated it in 2014 and confirmed a comfortable acceptable daily intake of 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, several times higher than the benchmarks it set for the warning-label dyes, and a 2023 follow-up left that standing.
So within the dye family, Europe treats Blue 2 as one of the quieter members: permitted, dosed by category, and not flagged for behavior effects. If a social post lumps it in with "the dyes Europe banned", the post is wrong twice over: Europe neither banned it nor labeled it.
Citation Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex II (E132); EFSA re-evaluation 2014 (ADI 5 mg/kg bw/day)
What the US does
Approved and certified, with an asterisk of the moment. FD&C Blue No. 2 is listed at 21 CFR 74.102, batch-certified like every US synthetic food dye, and used across candy, cereals, and baked goods. Curious credential: the same molecule, as indigotindisulfonate sodium, is an FDA-approved diagnostic that surgeons inject to confirm kidney and ureter function.
Blue 2 is one of the six dyes in the voluntary phase-out that HHS and FDA announced in April 2025, and several major manufacturers have pledged to remove it from their US products. The FDA has not revoked its authorization, so the accurate status is legal in both jurisdictions, with US usage shrinking by pledge rather than by law. Our Dye Pledge Scoreboard tracks which companies have actually followed through.
Citation 21 CFR 74.102; HHS/FDA announcement, April 22, 2025 (voluntary phase-out)
Products that commonly contain it
Blue 2 gives a deeper, denim blue than Blue 1. You will meet it in:
- Candy-coated chocolates and blue confectionery
- Breakfast cereals with blue pieces
- Ice creams, frostings, and baked-good decorations
- Pet foods, and (as a drug) surgical diagnostic dye
What to look for on a label
Reading the blues correctly:
- "FD&C Blue No. 2" or "Blue 2" on US labels; "Indigotine", "indigo carmine", or "E132" in Europe
- Blue 1 (Brilliant Blue, E133) is a different, brighter dye, also legal in both
- "Dye-free" versions of familiar US brands are appearing as phase-out pledges land; the label change is the tell
Or skip the squinting: paste the whole ingredient list into our checker and it flags everything in our database. Nothing you paste leaves your browser.
Frequently asked questions
Is Blue 2 banned in Europe?
No. Indigotine (E132) is an authorized EU food color, re-confirmed by EFSA in 2014 with an ADI of 5 mg/kg bw/day, and it is not one of the six dyes carrying the EU children's-attention warning.
Is Blue 2 being banned in the US?
No law bans it. It is included in the April 2025 voluntary phase-out of petroleum-based dyes, and many manufacturers have pledged removal by end of 2027, but the FDA authorization at 21 CFR 74.102 remains in force.
Is Blue 2 safe?
EFSA and the FDA both consider it safe at permitted levels. The US phase-out is driven by consumer preference and precaution rather than a new harm finding.
Related ingredients
Related reading
Primary sources
- EFSA: Re-evaluation of Indigo Carmine (E132), 2014
- 21 CFR 74.102: FD&C Blue No. 2 (eCFR)
- HHS/FDA: phase-out of petroleum-based synthetic dyes (April 2025)
Last reviewed July 13, 2026 · How we assign statuses