Colorful candies and cereals, cheese slices brighter than the color of any real cheese, mac n' cheese without any real dairy, these are the food staples of my childhood and adolescence.
And now, though still standing, I’m also battling a highly aggressive form of colon cancer. I am a capitalist and want companies, large and small, to make a profit. So, I’m not blaming the artificial food coloring dyes or preservatives; however, the data on both has been troubling for decades.
American food manufacturers began using food coloring and dyes in the early 1900s. The U.S. government initially permitted the use of food dyes in butter and cheese. Many of the earliest artificial colors and dyes were derived from coal tar, a toxic byproduct of coal combustion used to produce energy.
Coal tar plants, which ran power stations, were subsequently taken out of service or banned, due to a variety of negative environmental impacts, and the food industry, in large measure, shifted to petroleum-based dyes.
Due to health concerns and numerous studies linking these dyes to cancer, the European Union and Canada banned the use of most petroleum-based artificial dyes during the 20-teens.
Yellow #5, Red #40, and six other dyes — used to enhance products from Froot Loops to Nutri-Grain cereal bars — are called the “rainbow of risk” by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
They were banned in Norway, Finland, France, Austria, and the U.K. on June 25, 2013. Gatorade is not sold in most European countries due to the use of Yellow dyes #5 and #6. There are, of course, natural alternatives, yet “Big Food” will repeatedly cite consumers — especially children — “preferring” brighter colored food and products.
The most popular color additives are Red #40 (patent number), Yellow #5, and Yellow #6, making up almost 90 percent of all food dye used in the United States, according to Healthline. Artificial food dye consumption in the U.S. has increased by 500 percent over the past 50 years.
Perhaps if the packaging contained cancer warnings, like those on cigarettes, those preferences would quickly wane. Thanks to food colorings, Froot Loops cereal in the U.S. remains much brighter colored (and possibly tastier) … as well as has the real potential of being more deadly after long-term consumption.
There is plenty of precedent for prior banning of toxic dyes, including the earlier prohibition of use of Red #s 1,2, 4 and 32, as well as Yellow #s 1,2,3 and 4, Violet #1, Orange #s 1 and 2, and my favorites (in terms of the name), Sudan #1 and Butter Yellow (banned in 1919).
Longtime plaintiff attorney and now Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. announced plans earlier this spring to ban all petroleum-based dyes and artificial food colorings from the U.S. food supply. He has been winning multi-million-dollar judgments for similar concerns with Big Food for decades.
Before those regulations are even in draft form, Heinz/Kraft Foods and General Mills, two of the most prominent players in the industry globally, have announced their proactive phase-out and removal of these dyes from all their product lines by 2027.
Within two years, though Kraft Singles still won’t actually be cheese and its Mac n' Cheese will no longer contain petroleum byproducts, healthier options like turmeric will become coloring staples for them.
However, the cereal king, Kellogg’s, and M&M/Mars, one of the world’s largest candy and confectionery manufacturers, are still clinging to the toxic dyes. M&M says its candies won’t look or taste as well using natural/organic products.
Thank you for making it easier for me to leave behind my beloved M&M Peanuts. And we can expect Froot Loops and Toucan Sam to continue sharing the same toxic rainbow for years to come. I, of course, routinely comment here when I think the Trump Administration has misstepped. So, this is instead a call for applause and a tip of the hat for protecting American health by holding Big Food accountable, particularly for products aimed at children. We recognize both good and bad deeds here.
So, start taking your readers with you when grocery shopping and read what’s actually in the food you’re buying. And feel safer knowing that soon there will only be actual organic tomato coloring inside Heinz Ketchup and other beloved brand staples. However, please note that the phase-out will take some time and is not yet universal. This is one bad dye job that really needs to go — completely.