The Colour of Hyperactivity
Ever since the infamous Blue Smarties, parents have been wary of the amount and type of food colouring in food – fearing the effect it could have on their children. Although at the time it sounded like media-fuelled nonsense, Southampton University has recently discovered that there are six colours that can actually be associated with hyperactivity in children! The colours in question are sunset yellow, quinoline yellow and allura red, as well as less-obvious tartrazine, ponceau and carmoisine – their e-numbers are all provided at the bottom of this post.
The discovery had led to a collection of food businesses declaring that they will cease selling food containing any of these newly discovered bad-colours – including Tricky Treats and Debenhams! The Food Standards Agency hopes that many more food businesses will ban these colours and has advised anyone whose products are free from them to get in touch and let them know – you’ll be put on the safe-list.
I must admit that I haven’t yet fled to the kitchen to check my cupboards, but then my life contains bigger, more interesting things to worry about than whether my children will be a bit more bouncy if I give them one type of sweet instead of another. If, however, you find yourself losing sleep over this issue; you are advised to start checking labels for these numbers E110, E104, E129, E102, E124 and E122 (they correlate with the colours above). Apparently, they are especially common in long-life products. If you require more information, contact the FSA or book yourself on some food safety training and get a food hygiene certificate!
