The name was taken from amaranth grain, a plant distinguished by its red color and edible protein-rich seeds.

It has the appearance of reddish-brown, dark red to purple water-soluble powder that decomposes at 120 °C without melting.

[1][2] Since 1976, amaranth dye has been banned in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)[3] as a suspected carcinogen.

[4][5] Its use is still legal in some countries, notably in the United Kingdom where it is most commonly used to give glacé cherries their distinctive color.

[7] The FDA gave "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) provisional status to substances already in use, and extended Red No.

2 due to the removal of one sodium sulfonate functional group, among other molecular adjustments to furthermore reduce the immediate toxicity of the specific azo dye upon consumption.