This episode, we aren’t asking you to taste the rainbow, but we are scrutinizing the artificial dyes that give it its color. When you’re munching on brightly colored candies or dipping a french fry in purple ketchup, what exactly is it you’re tasting? In this episode, we take you through the story of food dyes, from their serendipitous discovery to their enthusiastic overuse, from much-needed regulation to controversial health findings. You’ve read the headlines, now get the full picture of artificial food dyes.
| History | Biology |
| Cobbold, Carolyn. A Rainbow Palate: How Chemical Dyes Changed the West’s Relationship with Food. University of Chicago Press, 2020. | Lehto, S., Buchweitz, M., Klimm, A., Straßburger, R., Bechtold, C. and Ulberth, F., 2017. Comparison of food colour regulations in the EU and the US: a review of current provisions. Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, 34(3), pp.335-355. |
| Alegbe, Emmanuel Ohifueme, and Taofik Olatunde Uthman. “A review of history, properties, classification, applications and challenges of natural and synthetic dyes.” Heliyon (2024). | From FDA News release “HHS, FDA to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes in nation’s food supply” released April 22,2025 https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/hhs-fda-phase-out-petroleum-based-synthetic-dyes-nations-food-supply. |
| Ardila-Leal, Leidy D., et al. “A brief history of colour, the environmental impact of synthetic dyes and removal by using laccases.” Molecules 26.13 (2021): 3813. | FDA “Color additives in Foods” current as of 07/06/2023 https://www.fda.gov/food/color-additives-information-consumers/color-additives-foods |
| Arnold, L. Eugene, Nicholas Lofthouse, and Elizabeth Hurt. “Artificial food colors and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms: conclusions to dye for.” Neurotherapeutics 9.3 (2012): 599-609. | FDA. Regulatory Status of Color Additives. https://www.hfpappexternal.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/index.cfm?set=ColorAdditives&sort=Use&order=ASC&startrow=151&type=basic&search= |
| Burrows, JD, Adam. “Palette of our palates: a brief history of food coloring and its regulation.” Comprehensive Reviews in food science and food safety 8.4 (2009): 394-408. | OEHHA 2021. Health Effects Assessment: Potential Neurobehavioral effects of synthetic food dyes in children. Children’s environmental health center office of environmental health hazard assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency. |
| Clydesdale, Fergus M. “Color as a factor in food choice.” Critical reviews in food science and nutrition 33.1 (1993): 83-101. | WHO 2017. Evaluation of certain food additives. Eighty-fourth report of the joint FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives. |
| Foroni, Francesco, Giulio Pergola, and Raffaella Ida Rumiati. “Food color is in the eye of the beholder: The role of human trichromatic vision in food evaluation.” Scientific reports 6.1 (2016): 37034. | EFSA, 2009. EFSA updates safety advice on six food colors. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/091112 |
| Oplatowska-Stachowiak, Michalina, and Christopher T. Elliott. “Food colors: Existing and emerging food safety concerns.” Critical reviews in food science and nutrition 57.3 (2017): 524-548. | FDA/CFSAN 2011. Background document for the food advisory committee: certified color additives in food and possible association with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. March 30-31,2011. Meeting materials. |
| Sharma, Vinita, Harold T. McKone, and Peter G. Markow. “A global perspective on the history, use, and identification of synthetic food dyes.” Journal of Chemical Education 88.1 (2011): 24-28. | EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food, 2009. Scientific Opinion on the re‐evaluation of Sunset Yellow FCF (E 110) as a food additive. EFSA Journal, 7(11), p.1330. |
| EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food, 2009. Scientific Opinion on the re‐evaluation of Allura Red AC (E 129) as a food additive. EFSA Journal, 7(11), p.1327. | |
| EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food, 2009. Scientific Opinion on the re‐evaluation Tartrazine (E 102). EFSA Journal, 7(11), p.1331. | |
| European Food Safety Authority, 2015. Refined exposure assessment for Allura Red AC (E 129). EFSA Journal, 13(2), p.4007. | |
| EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS), 2011. Scientific Opinion on the re‐evaluation of Erythrosine (E 127) as a food additive. EFSA Journal, 9(1), p.1854. | |
| Kobylewski, S. and Jacobson, M.F., 2012. Toxicology of food dyes. International journal of occupational and environmental health, 18(3), pp.220-246. | |
| Nigg, J.T., Lewis, K., Edinger, T. and Falk, M., 2012. Meta-analysis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, restriction diet, and synthetic food color additives. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(1), pp.86-97. | |
| Uldall Torp, N.M. and Thomsen, P.H., 2020. The use of diet interventions to treat symptoms of ADHD in children and adolescents–a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Nordic journal of psychiatry, 74(8), pp.558-568. | |
| Miller, M.D., Steinmaus, C., Golub, M.S., Castorina, R., Thilakartne, R., Bradman, A. and Marty, M.A., 2022. Potential impacts of synthetic food dyes on activity and attention in children: a review of the human and animal evidence. Environmental Health, 21(1), p.45. | |
| McCann, D., Barrett, A., Cooper, A., Crumpler, D., Dalen, L., Grimshaw, K., Kitchin, E., Lok, K., Porteous, L., Prince, E. and Sonuga-Barke, E., 2007. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. The lancet, 370(9598), pp.1560-1567. | |
| Bateman, B., Warner, J.O., Hutchinson, E., Dean, T., Rowlandson, P., Gant, C., Grundy, J., Fitzgerald, C. and Stevenson, J., 2004. The effects of a double blind, placebo controlled, artificial food colourings and benzoate preservative challenge on hyperactivity in a general population sample of preschool children. Archives of disease in childhood, 89(6), pp.506-511. | |
| Rowe, K.S. and Rowe, K.J., 1994. Synthetic food coloring and behavior: a dose response effect in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, repeated-measures study. The journal of pediatrics, 125(5), pp.691-698. | |
| Novais, C., Molina, A.K., Abreu, R.M., Santo-Buelga, C., Ferreira, I.C., Pereira, C. and Barros, L., 2022. Natural food colorants and preservatives: A review, a demand, and a challenge. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 70(9), pp.2789-2805. | |
| Arnold, L.E., Lofthouse, N. and Hurt, E., 2012. Artificial food colors and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms: conclusions to dye for. Neurotherapeutics, 9(3), pp.599-609. | |
| Barciela, P., Perez-Vazquez, A. and Prieto, M.A., 2023. Azo dyes in the food industry: Features, classification, toxicity, alternatives, and regulation. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 178, p.113935. | |
| Gupta, S., Hawk, T., Aggarwal, A. and Drewnowski, A., 2019. Characterizing ultra-processed foods by energy density, nutrient density, and cost. Frontiers in nutrition, 6, p.70. | |
| Hess, Julie M., Madeline E. Comeau, Angela J. Scheett, Anne Bodensteiner, and Allen S. Levine. “Using Less Processed Food to Mimic a Standard American Diet Does Not Improve Nutrient Value and May Result in a Shorter Shelf Life at a Higher Financial Cost.” Current Developments in Nutrition 8, no. 11 (2024): 104471. | |
| Moodie, R., Stuckler, D., Monteiro, C., Sheron, N., Neal, B., Thamarangsi, T., Lincoln, P. and Casswell, S., 2013. Profits and pandemics: prevention of harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink industries. The lancet, 381(9867), pp.670-679. |
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