Food dye

The avoidance of food dyes labelled "artificial" is a common form of food woo that is an appeal to nature. There is no reason to suspect that "artificial" colours are more likely to have side effects than "natural" food dyes. Additionally there's nothing particular about producing a colour that makes a molecule more dangerous; the majority of molecules are colourless. Those that do produce a colour are no more likely to be unsafe. Yet food woo fans are typically against all artificial colouring, even if a priori a natural colouring could easily be more dangerous than an artificial one. This is not to say artificial dyes are inherently safe; the then-popular Scheele's GreenFile:Wikipedia's W.svg contained unsafe amounts of arsenic, and while it was used mostly in clothing and wall paint, it was documented being used in food. Aspects of chemical makeup, the nitty gritty detail, matter more than however "natural" its source is.

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Red dyes

Some "natural" food dyes can make some people go ick, however, such as many people in the "West". Carmine (also known as cochineal extract), crimson lake, and natural Red 4, is derived from a cactus-dwelling bug (not a beetle), the female variant of cochinealFile:Wikipedia's W.svg (Dactylopius coccus). It's a harmless dye aside from allergic reactions by some people, though this caused a bit of a stir with some people that don't like bugs in their food, but also was a problem for vegans and vegetarians. That stir did lead to Starbucks replacing the dye from their drinks[1] to lycopene, a compound derived from red-colored plant parts. So both the nature-lovers and the animal-lovers get to destroy some red fruits instead.[note 1] This isn't unique to Starbucks though, as the dye has been used for many other food products as well as cosmetics (people however hardly freak out about beeswax in their lip balm).

Before the onset of synthetic dyes that we now take for granted, however, with a very limited palette of colors humans could access, the bug was a popular dye used for clothing and paint in Mesoamerica for thousands of years, and this was a time where people, unaware of the dye, used cow dung and bullocks' blood to try to get a satisfactory red.[2] The introduction of American cochineal from Dactylopius coccus replaced a variety of related scale insects used for dyeing, including Porphyrophora polonica (Polish cochineal, Polish carmine scales, or St John's blood), Porphyrophora hamelii (Armenian cochineal or Ararat cochineal), and various species of Kermes; however these aren't commonly used for food.[3][4][5]

Yellow dyes

The idea that food dyes, the yellow ones in particular such as Yellow 5 (TartrazineFile:Wikipedia's W.svg) and Yellow 6 (Sunset Yellow FCFFile:Wikipedia's W.svg), could cause attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children was first posited in 1970; yet in 50 years, no one has been able to provide sufficient evidence for this causation. There are a limited set of papers that showed effects, but in larger and meta-analyses, these disappear. As a result both the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, and the European Food Safety Commission, have concluded that they're fine for human consumption.[6] Despite this, various health warnings are still attached to such products: in the UK, products containing E102 (tartrazine), E104 (quinoline yellow), E110 (sunset yellow FCF), E122 (carmoisine), E124 (ponceau 4R), or E129 (allura red) must carry the warning "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".[7]

Some companies such as Kraft and its blue box of mac 'n' cheese, more likely just trying to keep a good brand image for the all-natural crowd, have removed some food dyes in their products and replaced them with things like turmeric, paprika, and annatto.[8] They try really hard to promote their product as a healthy choice, but in the end, it's still just mac 'n' cheese.

Caramel coloring

This is an ubiquitous coloring agent that's used to give a brown to golden-brown appearance in food such as syrups, sodas, chocolate, bread, gravy, soy sauce, beer, and more. During the process of making caramel Class III or Class IV with ammonia (but not I or II), a byproduct called 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) is formed. Some rat and mice studies exposing rodents at higher concentrations than humans normally are exposed to show rats forming lung tumors, but other studies are generally too small and inconclusive on its effects. The FDA believes that expected levels in food are negligible to cause any harm.[9]

There has been some protests to remove 4-MEI all together, which is impossible since it is a byproduct of the normal cooking process, though manufacturers have reduced 4-MEI from Class III and IV caramel. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has tried to get the FDA to remove caramel coloring from products,[10] while also alleging that the food with ingredients made from "unnatural" processes (as opposed to heating, though the FDA has stated that even cooking produces 4-MEI) is "contaminated" since it doesn't occur in nature.

According to a 2010 study by International Programme on Chemical SafetyFile:Wikipedia's W.svg, there is no toxicological difference between naturally occurring caramel from cooking and commercially produced caramel.[11]

Coloring yourself

Parents may scare children that if they eat too much of a food, they'll turn into it, and there is evidence that excessive consumption of some food dyes, including naturally-occurring ones, can result in skin color changes.

Eating excessive amounts of food containing carotenoids such as beta-carotene can cause carotenosisFile:Wikipedia's W.svg, a harmless disorder in which the skin goes yellow or orange. Carotenoids are used as food colorings and occur naturally in foods such as carrots; an excessive dose usually results from nutritional supplements or fad diets.[12]

Brilliant blue G, a derivative of the blue food dye FD&C blue No. 1, has been tested on rats as a treatment for spinal cord injury, in which context it gave some of the rats a blueish tinge.[13]

Notes
  1. However they likely can't consume products without accidentally eating some dead bugs, as those little crawlies do tend to end up in all products as part of the manufacturing process. The FDA doesn't mandate zero quantities of bug fragments in products. Vegetables in the supermarket tend to have a few dead bugs in there too, and it's likely some haven't been washed off unless you painstakingly check your vegetables.
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See also

References
  1. Smith, Aaron (April 9, 2012) "Starbucks to phase out bug extract as food dye". CNN. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  2. Maldonado, D. (February 2, 2018) "The insect that painted Europe red." Retrieved March 3, 2020
  3. See the Wikipedia article on Polish cochineal.
  4. See the Wikipedia article on Armenian cochineal.
  5. See the Wikipedia article on Kermes (insect).
  6. Background Document for the Food Advisory Committee: Certified Color Additives in Food and Possible Association with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children (March 30-31, 2011) FDA/CFSAN (archived from May 2, 2017).
  7. Food colours and hyperactivity, NHS (UK), 12 Apr 2017
  8. Kraft Foods Group (April 20, 2015). "Iconic Kraft Macaroni & Cheese to Remove Synthetic Colors and Artificial Preservatives in the U.S. in 2016 " Cision. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  9. FDA. (March 27, 2020) "Questions & Answers About 4-MEI". Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  10. Center for Science in the Public Interest (February 16, 2011). "FDA Urged to Prohibit Carcinogenic 'Caramel Coloring'"
  11. See the Wikipedia article on Caramel color § Safety. The entire section is worth a read.
  12. A Case of Carotenosis Caused by Long Term Excessive Intake of Vegetable Juice, Higashi, Higashi, Atsushi Utani, Nishi Nihon Hifuka 79(1):38-40 · February 2017
  13. Peng W, Cotrina ML, Han X, et al. Systemic administration of an antagonist of the ATP-sensitive receptor P2X7 improves recovery after spinal cord injury. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106(30):12489–12493. doi:10.1073/pnas.0902531106
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