It is a di azo dye with reddish brown color.
It is used drugs and cosmetics, cocktails, tinned fruits, biscuits, chocolate, dressed crabs, garlic sausage, luncheon meat, salmon spread pate, scotch eggs, stuffed olives, sweets, bakery and snack foods. The chemical composition of Erythrosine is as follows:
| No | Molecular Description | Composition |
| 1 | Total colour/Assay, percent by Mass, min. | 87 |
| 2 | Water-insoluble matter, percent by mass, Max. | 0.2 |
| 3 | Combined ether extracts, percent by mass, Max. | 0.2 |
| 4 | Subsidiary dyes, percent by mass, Max. |
3 |
| 5 | Dye intermediates, percent by mass, max. O- Sulfo - Benzaldehyde N'-N'- Ethyl benzy aniline 3- sulfonic acid Leuco base |
0.5 |
| 6 | Unsulfonated primary aromatic amine (calculated as aniline) percent by mass, max. |
0.01 |