Canthaxanthin
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Canthaxanthin is a food additive used for farmed salmon raised in environments where astaxanthin sources are not available. Canthaxanthin gives salmon a pink color similar to pink/red species of wild salmon, while at the same time acting as an antibiotic. It has E number E161g.
Health concerns have raised the issue of safety concerning the usage of canthaxanthin in commercially sold salmon. As a result, in the United States, food packaging must indicate if artificial coloring (including, but not limted to canthaxanthin) is added to the fish. In addition, the European Union has set limits on how much canthaxanthin commercially sold fish may contain.
The analysis of canthaxanthin content in salmon is a scientifically-accepted method to determine the origin of salmons.
Canthaxanthin capsules were also used extensively in the 1990s as a "tanning pill" since the substance would accumulate in the fatty tissue immediately underneath the skin, resulting in a reasonable facsimile of a natural sun tan. Such usage declined — but has not disappeared entirely — after the Food and Drug Administration in the United States withdrew approval of its use for this purpose in 1999, citing cases of color blindness and related visual difficulties, resulting from the fact that the substance can become lodged in the retina; vision does return to normal after use is discontinued in most cases, however.
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