anthocyanins are approved for use as food colorants in the european union, australia, and new zealand, having colorant code e163. in 2013, a panel of scientific experts for the european food safety authority concluded that anthocyanins from various fruits and vegetables have been insufficiently characterized by safety and toxicology studies to approve their use as food additives. extending from a safe history of using red grape skin extract and blackcurrant extracts to color foods produced in europe, the panel concluded that these extract sources were exceptions to the ruling and were sufficiently shown to be safe.