By Katherine
Panic set in just after dawn last Thursday morning, when bleary-eyed and tumbling down the stairs to breakfast with a hungry baby gnawing on one arm and a hungry preschooler pulling on the other, I noticed the date on the calendar: March 17th. Oh no! I’ve done nothing to prepare. Grandma Maxwell will roll over in her grave.
Hastily, I blurt out: “Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Honey! How about some green pancakes?”
A look of confusion and then horror crosses her face.
“Green?” she asks, incredulous.
Yes, green! We’re Irish-Americans, and this is what we do on St. Patrick’s Day: We dye things green and find reasons to tell everyone we meet today that we actually ARE Irish. Later, when you’re finally asleep, your dad and I will crack open cans (sadly) of Guinness and reminisce about crazy St. Patrick’s Days past when we celebrated with green, grain punch and that sort of thing. It’s tradition.
That’s what I think, but here’s what I say: “Yes. Green! It will be fun!”
(More confusion; more horror.) “May I just have pancakes? Not green ones?” she pleads.
Apparently, at four-years-old, she already senses something not quite edible about food dyed a different color.
Speaking conventionally, she’s right to be dubious of this dye business. Artificial dyes—those little vials for coloring candy and Easter eggs as well as the color additives that just show up in packaged foods, particularly those marketed to kids—have been linked to all kinds of nasty health and behavioral problems including cancer, hyperactivity and allergic reactions.
I shudder to think of the possible damage to my own system from years of Froot Loops and FD & C Blue 1 raspberry slushies, not to mention the grain punch.
As usual, the Europeans are way ahead of us in combating this artificial color crises. Though they haven’t gone so far as to ban them, European governments are pressuring U.S. companies to switch to natural food dyes, and the European Union now requires that most food with artificial dyes contain the following warning label: “May Have an Adverse Effect on Activity and Attention in Children.”
As a result, many U.S. companies such as Kraft and Kellogg have switched to more expensive but safe natural dyes in the products sold in Europe rather than deal with that marketing nightmare (which is why your bowl of Kraft macaroni and “cheese” will be strikingly more neon orange in Paris, Texas than in Paris, France.)
And yet, these same companies still use artificial dyes in the products sold here in the United States. Here, the topping on a McDonald’s Strawberry Sundae is colored with Red 40 (artificial dye); in the UK, the topping on a McDonald’s Strawberry Sundae is colored with—get this—strawberries!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally has agreed to convene an advisory committee to review the clinical studies linking artificial dyes and hyperactivity in children based on a petition from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Let's hope they actually take some action.
Personally, I meticulously read labels to avoid artificial food coloring as much as I can. And I’ve switched to India Tree Natural Decorating Colors for making frosting and other sweet treats that call for color. These natural dyes are made from concentrated vegetable colorants such as beet juice, red cabbage and tumeric and contain no corn syrup or synthetic petroleum products. (Not that the use of vegetable dye had any persuasive effect on my daughter with regard to the pancakes.)
Also, though I haven’t tried experimenting with my own natural dyes yet, I’m eager to try some of the ideas I found here. And, I’ll be stocking up on some dye-free candy from the Natural Candy Store in advance of the Easter bunny onslaught.
Anyone else have ideas or favorite products for avoiding artificial food colors?
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