UK food standards body highlights brands that remove artificial colours
The Food Standards Agency has moved to promote brands that have rid their products of certain artificial ingredients in the wake of an agreement of Ministers to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommending a voluntary ban on certain food colours.
The colours (listed below) were linked to hyperactivity in children by the ‘Southampton Study’ in the UK in 2007. Australia’s food regulator, FSANZ, has since carried out tests of food products in Australia and suggested a ban on the colours is unnecessary as the quantities in Australian food are well below those used in the Southampton Study.
The food colours used in the study – which now have a voluntary ban in the UK – are:
* sunset yellow FCF (E110)
* quinoline yellow (E104)
* carmoisine (E122)
* allura red (E129)
* tartrazine (E102)
* ponceau 4R (E124)
The FSA website list will be limited to general information that will help consumers identify quickly whether a product they use is likely to contain these colours, rather than listing individual products.
