If you don’t regularly eat candy, desserts, and rainbow-colored cereals, you may not think recent U.S. efforts to ban artificial food dyes will affect what’s on your plate.
But lots of foods, including some unexpected ones, could take on new hues under a plan from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- Red No. 40
- Yellow No. 5
- Yellow No. 6
- Blue No. 1
- Blue No. 2
- Green No. 3
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a statement announcing the proposed change. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end.”
While nutritionists and scientists broadly agree these artificial dyes have no health benefits, research on the potential health risks of these chemicals is limited and has been largely conducted in animals. It’s hard to say for sure whether artificial dyes are dangerous, says Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, a professor emerita of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. Dr. Nestle has written about the influence of industry in food research and regulation in her books Food Politics and Unsavory Truth.
“Artificial dyes clearly do not improve health, are replaceable, and are unnecessary,” Nestle says. “It’s best to avoid them as much as possible.”
Foods That Unexpectedly Contain Artificial Dyes
You’ll need to do more than skip the candy aisle to steer clear of artificial dyes. Here are five seemingly wholesome foods that may contain artificial dyes, too.
1. Smoked Salmon
Salmon fillets can look naturally orange when you buy fish to toss on the grill. But smoked salmon, or lox, can get its orange hue from several dyes on the proposed ban list, including Yellow No. 5 and No. 6 and Red No. 40.
For example, Flaum Nova Lox Smoked Salmon Salad sold at ShopRite contains all three of these dyes. Nathan’s Traditional Delicatessen Wild Caught Nova Salmon contains all three of these dyes, too, along with Blue No. 1.
2. Trail Mix
Dried fruits in trail mix may contain a range of artificial dyes designed to give them a color that more closely resembles what you might see on a fresh fruit plate. CJ’s Trail Mix, sold by Bassett Nut Co., contains Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Red No. 40, and Blue No. 1. Kirkland Signature Trail Mix, sold at Costco, contains these same four artificial colors.
3. Wasabi Peas
It may take a mix of blue and yellow dye to get the brilliant green color in wasabi peas. Valued Natural Wasabi Peas, for example, contain Yellow No. 5 and Blue No. 1. And Oregon Farm Fresh Snacks Willamette Wasabi Mix contains both these colors plus Yellow No. 6 and Red No. 40.
4. Fresh Oranges
5. Salad Dressings
A variety of popular salad dressings, such as French, Italian, and ranch, might contain artificial dyes. For example, Kraft Creamy French Salad Dressing contains Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6. Hidden Valley Light Golden Italian Dressing contains Yellow No. 6, and Hidden Valley Avocado Ranch Salad Dressing contains this dye as well as Yellow No. 5 and Blue No. 1.
How to Avoid Eating Food Dyes
“It is possible to avoid foods containing dyes, because all colors must be listed on food labels,” says James Coughlin, PhD, the president of Coughlin & Associates, a consulting firm based in Aliso Viejo, California, that specializes in food and nutritional toxicology.
Since organic foods should not contain artificial dyes, opting for organic products is another way to avoid the colorings that the United States is looking to eliminate, Nestle says.
In many cases, however, the bigger health risk posed by foods containing artificial dyes is that they are heavily processed, says Samantha Heller, RD, a registered dietitian in New York City.
“Chronic consumption of ultra-processed foods has been linked to diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity,” says Heller.
Artificial dyes pose a risk of chronic disease mainly because they make us crave more ultra-processed foods, says Jerold Mande, MPH, the chief executive of Nourish Science and an adjunct professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
“This leads to overeating and obesity, overwhelmingly the primary way food causes cancer,” Mande says. “It’s unlikely colors cause cancer themselves.”
By the same token, removing dyes from ultra-processed foods isn’t going to suddenly make these products risk-free, Heller says. “It is important to note that even if synthetic food dyes are removed from certain foods such as candy, it does not suddenly turn that food into a healthy option — it is still candy.”
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