Foods

Dyes in fruit drinks, teas and flavored waters

This broad category mixes 100% juices, which take no added dye, with fruit-flavored drinks, which sometimes do. The labels show the split.

Search labeled products by category and dye

Fruit drinks, teas and flavored waters: products whose label lists a tracked dye or additive

1,968 of 22,942

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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.

The USDA groups gathered here, juices and nectars, fruit drinks, bottled teas, ready-to-drink beverages and flavored waters, count 22,942 products, but only 9% of them list a tracked dye or additive. Juice sold as 100% juice is rarely among them. The colored products are fruit-flavored drinks and punches: Red 40 is on 5% of the category's labels, Blue 1 on 3% and Yellow 5 on 3%. Brominated vegetable oil appears on 0%, all records filed before the FDA revocation took effect on August 2, 2024. Schools that serve juice at breakfast follow federal nutrition standards on top of the state dye rules, and the state rules apply to whatever fruit drink a district buys from each start date. Bottled teas and flavored waters are the least colored part of the group.

How common is this ingredient in a food category?

Fruit drinks, teas and flavored waters whose label lists Red 40

5.2%

Products listing it1,182
Products in the category22,942

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

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Laws and FDA orders read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources

Flavored water and "color added"

Some flavored waters and teas list "color added" or "fruit and vegetable juice for color". Those are colors exempt from certification and are not covered by any of the state laws here. Only named certified dyes, titanium dioxide and the other tracked additives count in the figures. The natural colors page explains the difference.

What the labels list, substance by substance

22,942 products, 22,799 with an ingredient list; USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods, release of October 29, 2026.
SubstanceProductsShare of the category
Red 401,1825.2%
Red 3230.1%
Yellow 56232.7%
Yellow 64712.1%
Blue 16532.8%
Green 3130.1%
BVO980.4%
Titanium dioxide120.1%
BHA160.1%

Questions people ask

How many fruit drinks, teas and flavored waters products were counted, and how recent are their labels?

22,942 products, one per barcode, from the USDA FoodData Central Branded Foods release of October 29, 2026. 1,968 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 fruit drinks, teas and flavored waters?

Red 40, on 1,182 labels or 5.2% of the category, followed by Blue 1 (653) and Yellow 5 (623). 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 fruit drinks, teas and flavored waters 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