E number guide

Another can of fruit, another artifical colouring… why? This time it’s a tin of chunky fruit salad from Tesco. Not one of my usual food choices but I thought I’d try it. The list of ingredients goes well until we get to “Erythrosine”. Why a tin of fruit needs to be coloured I’ll never know?!

Unlike the last colouring, this one has a list of health issues (which I haven’t found proper references for) that include:

• Causing photosensitivity
• It may be carcinogenic
• Possible a xenoestrogen (whatever that is)
• Has been associated with other colours that be responisible for ADHD

What it is, is a bright red synthetic coal tar dye. You’ll find it in tinned cherries (like in this fruit salad) and also biscuits and some cooked meats. If you ever chewed one of those red pills from a dentist that shows where the plaque is on your teeth then you’ll almost certainly have taken it.

Every time I’ve sat down to eat a tin of Tesco Strawberries I’ve looked at the label and seen Allura Red AC on the list of ingredients.  Naturally I’ve assumed that it isn’t an E Number. A quick search proves this assumpion wrong.

Allura Red AC has the numer E129 which makes in a colour (obvious, I guess) and is known in the US as FD&C Red 40. It has the approval to be used in food, cosmetics and drugs and is generally seen to be safe.  Some comparisons have been made to the recently banned Sudan 1, but apart from a few cached pages in google I can’t find a firm place to confirm this.

WILD (that’s the company name) has launch a natural colouring under the name of Kiwi Green. Natural because it is made from plant extracts of stinging nettle and spinach. The website Food Ingredients First says that:

Tailored for several product requirements Kiwi Green is available in numerous color nuances and formulations. It is suitable for coloring candy, cereals, ice cream as well as dairy products, fat fillings and coatings. The neutral taste of this plant extract allows for its use in the coloring of sensitive products.

You may only see it listed as “coloring extract from plants” and it may be listed without an E number. In the states it can currently only be used with certain applications. I’ve read nothing to suggest it could be bad for you. But I’ll keep my eyes open.

Sunset Yellow (also FCF Orange Yellow S, FD&C Yellow 6) is a colourant used in foods. Wikipedia tells us that it is a synthetic coal tar and azo yellow dye useful in fermented foods which must be heat treated. It may be found in orange squash, orange jelly, marzipan, Swiss roll, apricot jam, citrus marmalade, lemon curd, sweets, hot chocolate mix and packet soups, trifle mix, breadcrumbs and cheese sauce mix and soft drinks.

Bad news is that it can cause allergic reactions in some causing rashes and according the the UK Food Guide website: “Side effects are urticaria (hives), rhinitis (runny nose), nasal congestion, allergies, hyperactivity, kidney tumors, chromosomal damage, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, indigestion, distaste for food; increased incidence of tumors in animals.”

If that’s not bad enough, it has more recently been linked with cancer.

Unsurprisingly E110 - Sunset Yellow is a banned additive in Finland and Norway.

Further Reading:

• E100 - Sunset Yellow
• UK Food Guide
• Wikipedia

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”