Foods

Dyes in candy and chocolate

Candy is where synthetic dyes are most concentrated. Here is what the labels filed with USDA show, dye by dye, with a search over the most recent ones.

Search labeled products by category and dye

Candy and chocolate: products whose label lists a tracked dye or additive

17,048 of 33,904

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USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods, release of 2026-10-29. The label date is when the record was submitted: recipes change, so check the package in your hand.

Candy and chocolate is the category where the certified colors are most visible. Of the 33,904 candy and chocolate products counted in USDA FoodData Central, one per barcode, 50% list at least one of the 14 substances tracked on this site. Red 40 appears on 42% of the labels, Blue 1 on 36%, Yellow 5 on 34%, and titanium dioxide, the white base of many coated pieces, on 14%. Red 3, which the FDA removes from food on January 15, 2027, is still on 10% of the labels, many of them filed years before the order. Plain chocolate bars rarely list any of these; the dyes are concentrated in gummies, hard candy, coated chocolate and seasonal assortments. The legal consequence is the same as everywhere: none of these dyes is banned in candy sold in stores today, except where a date has passed.

How common is this ingredient in a food category?

Candy and chocolate whose label lists Red 40

42%

Products listing it14,269
Products in the category33,904

USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods; labels were submitted over several years and recipes change.

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Labels age faster than recipes change

Many candy labels in the data set were filed in 2021 to 2023, before most manufacturers announced reformulations. A count of Red 3 here tells you what labels said when they were filed, not what is on the shelf now. The search above sorts the most recent labels first and shows each one's month, so a product filed in 2026 is a better guide than one from 2021. For a single package, the ingredient checker reads the list printed on it.

What the labels list, substance by substance

33,904 products, 33,897 with an ingredient list; USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods, release of October 29, 2026.
SubstanceProductsShare of the category
Red 4014,26942.1%
Red 33,3089.8%
Yellow 511,67934.4%
Yellow 68,41424.8%
Blue 112,22236.0%
Blue 22,6157.7%
Green 3180.1%
BVO30.0%
Potassium bromate40.0%
Titanium dioxide4,69713.9%
BHA590.2%

Questions people ask

How many candy and chocolate products were counted, and how recent are their labels?

33,904 products, one per barcode, from the USDA FoodData Central Branded Foods release of October 29, 2026. 17,048 of them list at least one of the 14 substances tracked here. Most labels in the data set were filed in 2021 to 2023, so recipes may have changed since.

Which dye is listed most often in candy and chocolate?

Red 40, on 14,269 labels or 42.1% of the category, followed by Blue 1 (12,222) and Yellow 5 (11,679). A product often lists several at once, so the counts overlap. The table on this page gives every tracked substance. Counts come from the labels, not from tests of the products themselves.

Are candy and chocolate with these dyes legal to sell?

Yes, in stores, except for substances whose federal date has passed, such as BVO, or will pass, such as Red 3 on January 15, 2027, and from January 1, 2027 for the four substances of California's Food Safety Act in that state. School rules in several states limit what schools serve or sell, not what stores sell.

Check next

Foods with Red 40

Search US products whose label lists Red 40 or another tracked dye, by category, from USDA FoodData Central, with each label's date.

Ingredient list checker

Paste an ingredient list: every tracked dye or additive found, by FD&C name, lake, E or INS number, with its status in your state.

Dye laws by state

Pick a state and a dye or additive: the FDA rule, every state law that names it, and the date each one starts.

Natural food colors

The colors exempt from certification that replace synthetic dyes, the new ones the FDA approved since 2025, and two still on hold.

Laws and official pages behind this page

Written by

Independent publisher of a state-by-state tracker of food dye and additive laws in the United States, with an ingredient-list checker built on USDA FoodData Central

Laws and FDA orders checked on · Editorial policy · Contact

Food dye and additive rules 2026, read in each state law and in the Federal Register, last checked on