E161j - Astaxanthin
What it is and how it is used
Astaxanthin is the deep red-orange carotenoid that makes salmon flesh pink, and gives prawns, lobster and flamingos their colour. None of those animals makes it — they all get it from microalgae, chiefly Haematococcus pluvialis, which produces it as a stress pigment. Farmed salmon is fed it deliberately, which is why farmed and wild salmon can end up a similar colour by quite different routes.
It is a powerful antioxidant and a popular supplement ingredient. What it is not, in Great Britain, is an authorised food colour: the number E 161j does not appear on the GB list. Of the E 161 xanthophylls, only E 161b lutein and E 161g canthaxanthin are authorised here.
Foods commonly containing it
Not used as an added colour in GB food. It occurs naturally in salmon, trout, prawns, crab and lobster, and is sold as a food supplement, usually as an algal oleoresin. It is separately authorised as a feed additive for farmed salmonids.
Safety summary
E 161j is not in the FSA Register of Food Additive Authorisations. Astaxanthin is not an authorised food colour in Great Britain. Its lawful uses here sit under different regimes: animal feed, and food supplements as a novel food.
Those routes have been assessed. EFSA's FEEDAP Panel derived an acceptable daily intake of 0.2 mg astaxanthin per kg of body weight per day, replacing an earlier figure of 0.034 mg/kg. EFSA's NDA Panel then assessed astaxanthin as a novel food in supplements at up to 8 mg/day and concluded that combined exposure from supplements plus the background diet of fish and crustaceans is safe for adults, but that adolescents aged 14 to under 18 reach the ADI and children aged 10 to under 14 exceed it by around 28%.
The practical reading: astaxanthin from eating salmon is not the issue; high-dose supplements in children are where EFSA has drawn a line.
Known concerns
EFSA found that combined intake from supplements and diet reaches or exceeds the ADI in children and younger adolescents. Supplement doses are far higher than anything obtainable from food.