Artificial food dyes, beautiful but ugly

A few weeks ago I received a booklet from Nutrition Action titled "Chemical Cuisine" and I read that under

  Yellow #5: "In the 1990s, FDA scientists discovered Yellow 5 was contaminated with such cancer-causing substances as benzidine and 4-aminobiphenyl (or chemicals that the body converts to those substances). In 2011, the FDA rejected a request by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to determine if the carcinogenic contaminants were still present." -Nutrition Action

OH, AND:

Yellow #6: "The same as Yellow #5, except the FDA not only refused to conduct new studies but its known to maybe cause occasional, but sometimes severe, hypersensitivity reactions." -Nutrition Action

**Yellow 5 and 6 are the 2nd and 3rd most commonly used dye in the US - Nutrition Action**

Yikes! So earlier today I was eating a bowl of cinnamon Life cereal and had the box sitting in front of me (I was reading the nutritional facts and maybe I wanted seconds..) It wasn't until I got towards the end and saw the preservatives followed by YELLOW FOOD COLORING, not just one..but two different yellow food dyes #5 and #6.

So lets start by talking about the Quaker brand and how they are trying to educate the public with their article on how to read nutritional labels:

"There is no better place to start educating oneself about the nutritional values of foods than with food nutrition labels. Many people, however, don’t know how to properly interpret the information contained in food labeling. Many food labels are also misleading or confusing, trying to hide less healthy ingredients and additives, for example." -Quaker

This seems a bit ironic. Considering in their cinnamon Life cereal they have a few less healthy ingredients..

So many companies claim their products are safe and very well tested..That is until other tests are conducted and a lot of additives end up becoming banned. 

Heres a short list of how many artificial colorings have been put on the market and then became banned.

 Butter Yellow

Green 1 and Green 2

Orange 1 and Orange 2 and Orange B

Red 1 and Red 2 and Red 4 and Red 32

Sudan 1

Violet 1

Yellow 1 and Yellow 2 and Yellow 3 and Yellow 4

I should add that they are all synthetic and banned due to huge problems. The problems were anywhere from heart damage, liver cancer, organ damage, intestinal lesions to cancer. Now, do the food and chemical industries believe that these are all safe within "moderation"? Because not only do the serving sizes on almost all products seem way smaller  than what most people actually eat, but companies throw the dye in places that don't even need it!! Honestly take a look at Life cereal, it's light brown..Why on earth would they add yellow dyes to it? Do they really believe a different shade of brown would be less appealing, causing sales to decrease? Ugh.

Now I understand that my M&M's, Skittles, Red Velvet Cakes and those brightly delicious sweets clearly contain artificial dyes. However, it's when companies decide to brighten up foods that (most likely) don't need it and many people wouldn't expect their to be food coloring in it! 

Get ready for a frustrating fact of the night:

Other countries have BANNED both yellow #5 and #6 food colorings, yet the U.S has not. (For example the UK found it causes behavioral changes in children, oh hey there ADHD...)

So how about the company KRAFT, selling Macaroni and Cheese here in the U.S adding yellow #5 and #6 to make the appearance better.

Yet over in the UK the same company KRAFT sells it (under a different name, Cheesy Pasta) but they don't have those Yellow food colorings in it. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that they look almost identical..

It's a shame that these synthetic coloring are dying all of our food (This is not just a yellow dye problem, either). Has anyone ever though about using natural dyes to enhance the look of their food? Oh wait..Here comes thee most frustrating fact of the night:

Companies are using natural dyes in places other than the US because they have banned them, but they use synthetic dyes here. And yes this is true for US based companies. :/ I'm talking to you M&MS! 

I want my kids to enjoy candy (especially since it's halloween time!) but it's so frustrating that in the U.S the companies use cheap, problematic ingredients but they'll alter the recipe for other countries that ban it..Let's do something about this!! 

Just in time for the fall..sorry candy corn...