Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Updated : April 3, 2015 4:45 PM IST
Food colours are the one thing we encounter or consume without realising. Be it your favourite candy, tomato ketchup, jam, jelly, breakfast cereal, fruit juice, soft drink, etc., all of these products are loaded with synthetic dyes.
Synthetic dyes are coal or petroleum-based and at times are not even purified chemicals. These chemicals have a deleterious effect on your health and some of these chemicals are also carcinogenic in nature.
The Prevention of Food adulteration Act (PFA) has permitted the use of certain colours to be added to food items but their concentration has been limited to 100 parts per million (ppm) and it has been made mandatory for manufacturers to specify the use of colours on their packages.
The common permitted food colours in India are:
| Colour | Common Name | Acceptable daily intake (mg/kg of body weight) |
| Red | Ponceau 4R | 0-4 |
| Carmoisine | 0-4 | |
| Erythrosine | 0-0.1 | |
| Yellow | Tartrazine | 0-7.50-2.5 |
| Sunset Yellow FCF | ||
| Blue | Indigo Carmine | 0-5 |
| Brilliant Blue FCF | 0-12.5 | |
| Green | Fast Green FCF | 0-2.5 |
Apart from synthetic dyes, various natural dyes permitted for use are annatto, caramel, turmeric, betanin, chlorophyliin, carmine, lycopene, saffron, etc., which are derived from natural sources, such as vegetables and fruits.
Despite stringent regulations, a number of non-permitted colours like auramine (yellow), metanil yellow, lead chromate, rhodamine (pink), sudan III & IV (red) and orange II are used for colouring many food items.
How these food colours ruin your health
Even though these food colours are permitted they are known to trigger certain reaction, which depends on the quantity of their consumption. One should be aware of synthetic as well as natural food colours they are exposed to every day and the possible repercussions they might have on your health. Here's a list of all the food items in India, in which addition of food colours is permitted:
| Food items | Maximum permissible level of colour (ppm) |
| Ice cream, milk lollies, frozen desserts, flavoured milk, yoghurt, ice cream mix powder | 100 |
| Biscuits including biscuit wafer, pastries, cakes, confectionery, thread candies, sweets and savouries | 100 |
| Peas, strawberries and cherries in containers, preserved or processed papaya, canned tomato juice, fruit syrup, fruit squash, jellies, jam, marmalade, candied fruits. | 200 |
| Non-alcoholic carbonated and non carbonated ready to serve synthetic beverages, including synthetic syrups, sherbets, fruit bear, fruit beverages, fruit drinks and synthetic soft drink concentrates. | 100 |
| Custard powder | 100 |
| Jelly crystal and ice-candy | 100 |
References:
Image source: Getty Images
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