E number guide

Crisp makers are defending their products in Ireland after it was revealed that 7% of children there consume at least one packet a day. This is part of the blame for childhood obesity. The defense of the manufacturers is that crisps are natural products make from natural nutritional ingredients. Jennifer Allen from the Limerick post rubbishes this saying that “while the crisps may have started off as natural raw ingredients, the nutrition is largely lost through processingâ€?.
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The Daily Mail reports that the food additive Sunset Yellow (E110) has been linked with cancer. The colouring is often found in curries, sweets, soft drinks, chocolate snacks, sauces and pickles. Although already banned in Finland and Norway, and removed from its products by the supermarket chain “Co-op” the FSA says that it the problem is small enough not to consider a ban.

The problem is not so much in the colour itself. But that as a byproduct of the production process there may be small quantities of Sudan 1 present. The chemical colouring that caused mass recall of food products earlier this year.

Read the article from The Daily Mail, including statements from the Food Standards Agency on the page titled “Food colour linked to cancer”