When it comes to selecting and appreciating different foods, most would agree that taste is the primary factor. Surprisingly, not far behind in terms of determining what foods we like is colour. Why is colour so important? Consider it this way. Broccoli looks fabulous when it’s green; chicken not so much. Similarly, that tub of yogurt that has been sitting at the back of the bottom shelf of your fridge has now got a layer of green scum at the top. That’s not what you would call appetizing. Would you slurp down a bowl of tomato soup if it was blue? I think you’re getting the point.
The colour of food can also tell you something about how edible it is in terms of its ripeness. Take the banana, for instance. If the peel is green, it is not yet ready and will taste bitter if you bite into it. When the skin turns golden yellow, it is perfectly ripe and delicious to both humans and apes alike. If you wait too long, the peel will turn a blackish-brown and the fruit inside will resemble roofing tar and will appeal to your taste buds to about the same degree.
This brings us to the subject of food additives and especially food colouring. You may not realize it, but butter is not naturally yellow, but rather quite white in pigment. Because consumers have traditionally demanded that their butter glow with a yellow hue, beta-carotene has been added for decades by butter producing creameries. Ironically, producers of margarine, an oil-based spread aimed at replacing butter at the kitchen table, have added an even deeper yellow food dye so that consumers will believe it is considerably more buttery and therefore tastes better.
Not only are we susceptible to this kind of food colouring brainwashing, but our kids have also been indoctrinated by this “smoke and mirrors” menu suggestibility. Just try to reason with them that their mac and cheese pasta lunch will taste just the same if the melted cheddar cheese is plain white and not a deep Halloween orange in colour. In cases like this, it’s the colour that matters most. White cheddar like white butter is just so lame. Good luck trying to change the kids’ minds. This is a battle you are never going to win. You might as well hoist up the white flag of surrender.
You may recall that Rd Dye #3 was vilified as the “all time bad guy food colouring” and maligned south of the border as the “most wanted” poster child for evil food additives by the US FDA back at the tail end of the last century. Synthesized as a byproduct of petroleum, Red Dye #3 has been found in popular foods and snacks such as Smarties and maraschino cherries, and has been linked to carcinogenic medical conditions and mental disorders. What is really disconcerting is that it is still used today in mass food production. This situation will finally change as of January 2027, when the FDA will ban its use in food products because it has been tied to the appearance of tumours in male lab rats.
Is it worth trading possible health risks for the freedom to consume foods that look good? There may not yet exist a direct link between common food dyes and cancer, but compounds in these substances are associated with allergies, learning problems, hyperactivity, ADHD and mood disorders in children.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has requested the FDA to ban certain food dyes. For instance, Red Dye #2, which may be found in Florida oranges, increases the risk of bladder tumours. Yellow Dye #5, also known as tartrazine and found in Mountain Dew soft drink, is the second most widely used food dye and can be found in a host of brands of chips, gums and baked goods, Yellow Dye #6, or Sunset Yellow, which is used in Reese’s Pieces, is present in cereal, orange soda, as well as in baked goods. Blue Dye #1, or Brilliant Blue, gives blue M&Ms their rich colour, and can also be found in ice cream, canned peas and mouthwash. Even the new “gold standard” for food colouring, the consensus safe (for now) Red #40 (Alura Red), present in such diverse processed products as breakfast cereals, candies, baked goods, dairy foods and condiments, is beginning to lose its stranglehold on the industry.
Health consciousness has forced the FDA’s hand recently, and we are now seeing artificial colours being replaced by natural ones. Despite the resistance from the food industry, which claims that natural colours are more temporary and less cost effective, artificial dyes such as Orange B (used for sausage casings) and Citrus Red #2 (orange peels) will soon have their FDA authorization revoked as part of this transition.
What are some of these natural dyes that are coming into play? Some are newly discovered but most have been around as long as civilization itself. Among these are beet juice, beta carotene, turmeric and saffron. If you’ve ever had to relieve your bladder after a healthy serving of beet soup, you probably understand why Red Dye #3 is not the only option to produce a deep scarlet colour.
Nobody asked me, but who knows what the future may bring? As of this moment, Donald Trump has installed RFK Jr. as Czar of Health in the U.S. and there’s no telling which direction health policies will go. The FDA may be shredded or dismantled completely. On one hand, he is pro natural foods and innate immunity and against Big Pharma. Conversely, he seems to be bent on destroying the many government bodies and agencies that have been created to safeguard the public. He certainly seems to be no friend to science.
I guess we’ll just have to keep drinking the beet juice until the colours become clearer. Whether we prefer to stand or be seated, we can call the natural colour of our bodily fluids Red Dye #1.