Foods

Dyes in drink mixes and water enhancers

Powders and squeeze bottles turn water into a colored drink, so they carry the dye rather than the drink itself. A third of their labels name one.

Search labeled products by category and dye

Drink mixes and water enhancers: products whose label lists a tracked dye or additive

1,770 of 4,994

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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.

Powdered drink mixes and liquid water enhancers are concentrated sources of color: a few grams tint a whole glass. Of the 4,994 products counted in this USDA category, 35% list a tracked substance. Red 40 is the most frequent at 26%, then Blue 1 at 16% and Yellow 5 at 12%. Titanium dioxide, at 3%, appears mainly in creamy or "lemonade" style powders where it gives an opaque look. The category also includes electrolyte powders and flavored protein sachets, which are rarely colored, so the share for fruit-punch style mixes alone is higher than the category figure. Drink mixes are rarely served in schools, so for them the relevant rules are federal ones and the label requirements of Texas, for labels developed from 2027, and Louisiana, from December 31, 2028.

How common is this ingredient in a food category?

Drink mixes and water enhancers whose label lists Red 40

26%

Products listing it1,303
Products in the category4,994

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

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Reading a powder label

Mixes often list colors at the end in a group, such as "Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5". The checker splits grouped names such as "Yellow 5 & 6". Liquid enhancers sometimes say "color added" or "artificial color" without naming the dye, which federal rules allow only for colors that are not certified; a certified dye must be named. The Texas label page has a date tool for the warning.

What the labels list, substance by substance

4,994 products, 4,991 with an ingredient list; USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods, release of October 29, 2026.
SubstanceProductsShare of the category
Red 401,30326.1%
Red 3581.2%
Yellow 559812.0%
Yellow 63046.1%
Blue 182216.5%
Blue 2310.6%
BVO20.0%
Titanium dioxide1653.3%
BHA310.6%

Questions people ask

How many drink mixes and water enhancers products were counted, and how recent are their labels?

4,994 products, one per barcode, from the USDA FoodData Central Branded Foods release of October 29, 2026. 1,770 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 drink mixes and water enhancers?

Red 40, on 1,303 labels or 26.1% of the category, followed by Blue 1 (822) and Yellow 5 (598). 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 drink mixes and water enhancers 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

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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