Food additive databasecolorChecked 2026-10-02

Monascus Color ベニコウジ色素

Existing food additiveNot on the EU additive list

Purpose: color
On the label: “ベニコウジ色素” (monascus color), “モナスカス色素” (monascus color), “着色料（紅麹）” (colorant (red yeast rice)), “着色料（モナスカス）” (colorant (monascus))
Name in the List of Existing Food Additives: ベニコウジ色素 (No. 262)
Source and production: Obtained from a culture of a filamentous fungus of the genus Monascus (limited to Monascus pilosus and Monascus purpureus). The main components are ankaflavins and monascorubrins.

In Japan

A reddish colorant obtained from a culture of Monascus mold. Under the standard for use for colorants (excluding chemically synthesized products), it cannot be used in kelp (konbu), meat, fresh fish and shellfish, tea, nori seaweed, beans, vegetables, or wakame seaweed.
When the name contains the character “色” (color), as in “ベニコウジ色素” or “モナスカス色素”, “着色料” (colorant) can be omitted, but when the short names “紅麹” (red yeast rice) or “モナスカス” (monascus) are used, the purpose name is placed alongside, as in “着色料（紅麹）”. The short names “紅麹” and “モナスカス” are shared with the existing food additive “ベニコウジ黄色素” (monascus yellow), so “着色料（紅麹）” alone does not tell you which pigment it is.
It differs in both manufacturing method and purpose from the raw material of the three red yeast rice–related products from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical that were recalled in 2024 (rice cultured with red yeast rice mold, then heated and crushed). Monascus color has as its main component a pigment extracted from a culture of red yeast rice mold, and products that comply with the standards and specifications of the Food Sanitation Act are sold (Q&A from the Consumer Affairs Agency, MHLW, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, April 2024).

Japan's standards for use

Standard as a colorant (excluding chemically synthesized products): must not be used in kelp (konbu), meat, fresh fish and shellfish (including whale meat), tea, nori seaweed, beans, vegetables, or wakame seaweed

This is a summary of the standards for use. See the source list for the exact conditions.

In the EU

It is not on the EU list of food additives (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex II), so it cannot be used as a food additive in the EU.

Sources

Checked 2026-10-02. Rules and evaluations change over time. This page is a translation of our Japanese page; if they differ, the Japanese page is the reference.

This page lists facts stated in laws and in evaluations by public bodies; it is not a safety verdict. Additives used in Japan are approved by the government, which sets the foods and amounts they can be used in. The ADI is a guide to the amount that is considered safe to take every day over a lifetime.

Other substances used as color

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