Blue raspberry is a manufactured flavoring and food coloring for candy, snack foods, syrups, and soft drinks.^[1][2] The flavor and color do not derive from any species of raspberry,^[1][2] but rather the flavor was manufactured using "mostly esters of the banana, cherry, and pineapple variety."^[2] Sugar is commonly used to create taste appeal for the blue raspberry flavoring.^[2]

Food products labeled as blue raspberry flavor are commonly dyed with a bright blue synthetic food coloring, such as brilliant blue FCF (also called Blue #1) having European food coloring number E133.^[3] The blue color was used to differentiate raspberry-flavored foods from cherry-, watermelon-, and strawberry-flavored foods, each of which is red.^[1][2]

Blue raspberry flavor and color were first used in the United States in 1958 to add interest to snow cones.^[2] Regulatory agencies, such as the US Food and Drug Administration, provide guidelines on artificial flavors and colors for manufacturers out of concern for consumer safety,^[4] and have approved the use of blue raspberry as a safe ingredient since 1969.^[2]