Food Additives Under New Suspicion

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- leslie o

Friday, September 07, 2007 6:41 PM

Food Additives Under New Suspicion

 

finally!

Food alert as every additive comes under new suspicion

 

 

 

Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor

 

 

The safety of every food colouring and additive is being assessed independently by the European Food Safety Authority. Food safety experts expect most of these artificial colourings to be banned or phased out within two years.

 

The Food Standards Agency made clear yesterday that it had the option to introduce a unilateral ban, but it believes that an EU-wide ban would be more effective, especially as many manufacturers operate across the Continent. Scientists at the food safety authority’s headquarters in Palma, Italy, have examined the Southampton research findings and are preparing a report for the European Commission.

 

Some experts believe that action may be taken sooner on colourings than on the preservative sodium benzoate while manufacturers resolve technical difficulties. Sodium benzoate extends the shelf-life of drinks to about two years. Without it, many products would have to be refrigerated while in storage.

 

The links between artificial colours and hyperactivity in children have been known since the 1970s and companies have been lobbied by parents and health campaign groups to remove them. Nestlé has removed artificial dyes from Smarties, and Burton’s Foods removed them from its Jammie Dodgers after consumer concerns.