Cis-norbixin isomer obtained by hydrolysis of cis-bixin and isolated by solvent extraction from annatto seeds. The thermal decomposition data of the cis-norbixin samples were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis at different heating rates in the 25–900C temperature range. DSC curves showed that thermal decomposition reactions for cis-norbixin occurred in the solid phase. The kinetic parameters, such as activation energy and pre-exponential factor were determined using integral and approximate methods: Coats–Redfern, Madhusudanan, Horowitz–Metzger and Van Krevelen. F1 mechanism describes well the first stage of the thermal decomposition.