Annatto can also be used to color foods such as rice, creams, roasts, soups, condiments, chips, snacks, breakfast cereals, and smoked fish.

It is commonly used in Latin America and the Caribbean in general and exotic cuisine.

In Central and South America, the natives use the seeds to make body paint and lipstick. For this reason, the Annatto is sometimes called the "tree lipstick"

There has been no linked to cases of food-related allergies.