Know what you eat: Dark side of bright food colours

Don't get blown away by the colour of a food item, chances are they will lead you to a hospital ward. (Photo: Joanna Kosinska via Unsplash)

Besides taste, the appearance of food is an incredibly important feature in gastronomy. The vibrant green of fresh vegetables, rainbow hues of candies, subtle, creamy beiges and golds of cheeses and the rich browns of baked goods and seared meats can awaken a slumbering palate. After all, the eye consumes before you do. But, in most cases, the palate-awakening hues are a result of synthetic dyes, also known as food colours. Worse than that, many food colours are linked to hyperactivity disorders and even cancer.

The world of food colours

Synthetic food colours are used to enhance the appearance of food, the red in chicken tikka to the orange in jalebis. (Photo: Mayur Sable via Unsplash)

Food colours are chemical substances that were developed to enhance the appearance of food by giving it artificial colour. This is done to make food look more appealing or to hide flaws. Most commonly they are responsible for the bright colours of candy, sports drinks and baked goods. Even the red in chicken kebabs and the orange in the jalebi. But this is not a new phenomenon. People have been adding colourings to food for centuries. The first artificial food colour was created in 1856 from coal tar. Nowadays, food colour is usually made from synthetic dyes but can also be made from natural sources like plant extracts.

Approved food colours

FSSAI permits colour in acceptable limits only in bakery, confectioneries, beverages, ice creams and candies.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is the government agency responsible for regulating the use of food colouring in India. It permits the use of both natural and synthetic food colours, but only in certain amounts and for specific purposes. For example synthetic food colours can be used to enhance the appearance of food, but they cannot be used to mask the natural colour of the food or to deceive the consumer. Natural food colours, on the other hand, can be used to enhance the appearance of food and to add colour to food that would otherwise be colourless.

Synthetic colours permitted for use are red from ponceau 4R, Carmoisine and Erythrosine, yellow from tartrazine and Sunset Yellow FCF, blue from Indigo Carmine and Brilliant Blue FCF and green from Fast Green FCF. The acceptable level is 100 ppm in fresh food or 200 ppm in microgram/gram colour canned food.

Interestingly FSSAI permits colour in acceptable limits only in bakery, confectioneries, beverages, ice creams and candies. Colours are strictly banned for usage in main dishes, side dishes like gravies, chutneys, sauces. This is because the average human consumption of bakery products and confectioneries are lesser as compared to staple foods like rice and gravies. For instance, by weight, if 0.1g of colour is added to a sweet/confectionery and biryani, we end up consuming more than 100 times the coloured substance from the biryani than bakery.

So what’s the problem?

Indian sweets contain unregulated uses of food colours. (Photo: Prchi Palwe via Unsplash)

The unrestrained use of colourants! What was once reserved for colourful, celebratory cake frosting, neon coloured beverages and brightly coloured candies is now lurking on almost every shelf in the grocery store. The biggest offenders are the Indian sweet makers who are notorious for using artificial colouring in proportions that are way above the permissible limits. This is evident in the pink and green sweets, bright orange laddus and the yellow and orange jalebis that we relish. A study by scientists at the Lucknow-based Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), a laboratory of the Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) on Indian sweets found it to contain banned dyes like Orange-II (orange), Auramine (yellow), Rhodamine B (red), Blue VRS (blue), Malachite Green (green) and Sudan-III (red). The adulteration went beyond the standard level of 100 parts per million (ppm) in both urban and rural areas, which is extremely dangerous.

It is important to note that Rhodamine B which is used to give pink colour to sweets is a cancer causing agent that is actually meant for use in the plastics and textile industry. Another culprit metanil yellow, which is generally used to colour sweets like jalebi, ladoo and even biryani causes degenerative changes in the lining of the stomach, kidneys and liver. It also adversely affects the ovaries and testes, proving to be dangerous to reproductive organs. Auramine which is used to colour beverages yellow, can cause dysfunction of the liver and kidney. Sudan dyes commonly used to colour chilli powder or curry powder is not only highly toxic to the liver but is also known to cause kidney lesions and is a probable carcinogen.

Street food stalls too use an excessive amount of colouring agents, including red, orange and yellow for biryani, tandoori chicken, chilli chicken, etc. Food manufacturers often prefer artificial food dyes over natural food colourings, such as beta carotene and beet extract, because they produce a more vibrant colour. The high cost of natural colourants when compared to synthetic counterparts is also a major deterrent. Red is the most demanded food colourant followed by green on the Indian market. Alarmingly, children are the biggest consumers of food colours.

When you consume more than permissible limit

According to principal scientist Kausar Mahmood Ansari who led the research team found that the most-banned dyes such as Orange-II (Orange), Auramine (Yellow), Rhodamine B (Red), Blue VRS (Blue), Malachite Green (Green) and Sudan-III (Red) cause lesions in the kidney, spleen and liver and stunt the growth of children. They also have bad effects on the testicles, ovaries and spleen. “One notable concern is their potential to cause hyperactivity, allergies and behavioural changes, particularly in children. For instance, studies have shown a correlation between synthetic colourants and increased hyperactivity in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Synthetic colourants also lead to gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. This can be particularly distressing for individuals with sensitive digestive systems or those prone to digestive disorders,” says nutritionist Shweta Shah, founder of Eatfit24/7.

Tips to avoid food colours

• Read labels. Make sure to check nutrition labels and go for foods that use natural food colouring from fruit and vegetable extracts. Beetroots, blueberry juice, or carrots are good alternatives to artificial dyes.
• Avoid numbers. Man-made food dyes appear in ingredient lists as a name of a colour with a number following it: Blue 1 and 2, Citrus Red 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6. Avoid these.
• Go for homemade. Make food at home rather than buy from outside, using safe and natural products.
• Avoid/ limit packaged foods whenever possible. These are processed and almost always contain food dyes.
• Avoid processed foods. Apart from the hazards of colours and dyes, processed foods are as it is unsafe for kids and can cause a lot of other health issues.