Consumer exposures to anthocyanins from colour additives, colouring foodstuffs and from natural occurrence in foods.

Anthocyanins are responsible for the red/blue colour of grapes, currants and other fruits and vegetables. They may also be extracted for use as colour additives (E163) or concentrated for use as colouring foods. Consumer exposures have been assessed using data on natural occurrence, use levels and frequencies from food manufactures and European food consumption data. Intakes from natural occurrence can be up to 4 mg kgbw(-1) d(-1) (mg per kg body weight per day) at the mean and up to 17 mg kgbw(-1) d(-1) for children who are high level consumers of red/black berries and small fruits. High level intakes for children from food colour and colouring food applications lie in the range 0.3 to 6.3 mg kgbw(-1) d(-1) and for adults between 0.6 and 2.8 mg kgbw(-1) d(-1). Exposures from food colour use and colouring foods separately or combined are therefore lower than those from natural occurrence in foods.