Safety of Some Synthetic Food Colours: Review

Food additives are used to protect food, increase quality and extend shelf life in many stages, from production to consumption of food. Colorants added by food producers to color food or to adjust the color to desired level are among the commonly used food additives. Considering today's developing production technologies, foods fade or discolor at various stages of processing, storage, and sale due to physical and chemical conditions such as heat, light, pH and oxygen. Colorants are used to regain these color losses, to enhance weak colors, to give color to the food that is actually colorless, and to win back the favour of customers by hiding low quality. Therefore, the most used food colorants in Canada, China, European Union, Mexico and United States of America were presented. The chemical name, chemical structure, common uses, acceptable daily intake (ADI), and toxicity literature of six most used artificial food colors were reviewed.

Parental Perception of the Role of Color Additives in Food on Children's Behavior in Jazan Region of Saudi Arabia

Natural and artificial food colors are widely used in a variety of food products. This study was designed to assess the awareness and perception of coloring agents present in food and beverages on children's behavior among people of Jazan, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on representative samples of 387 married people from different places in Jazan region of Saudi Arabia from August to December 2019. The study utilized a validated questionnaire consisting of 12 questions to gather the information from 387 participants (52.9% males and 47.03% females). Approximately 77% were young adults; belong to age group of 26-45 years (P = 0.000). Majority (40.5%) of them had four or more children (P = 0.000). While significant level of knowledge about the use of foods and beverages containing coloring agent was found in the participants (P = 0.001), they were not aware that it may affect the child's health. Only 24.7% were able to tell the name of a coloring agent (P = 0.001). Significant percentage (88.9%) of parents reported about child hyperactivity after consumption of specific type of food and beverages, particularly fizzy drinks (35.61%), chocolates (31.82%), and sweets and candy (30.3%). Target populations were considered to be aware of presence of coloring agent in food and beverages used by their children regularly but they are not much aware of its harmful effect on long-term use.