Artificial food dyes are unfortunately in quite a lot of processed foods. I've already shared all the reasons I hate them, but today I want to share the names of the FDA-approved dyes so you can look for (and hopefully avoid) them in food products.
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Note: This is the "currently approved" list because, unsettling enough, the approval status does change.
The following FD&C color additives are either no longer authorized or restricted for use - that’s right the FDA once thought these seven food dyes were “safe” but have since changed their minds: Green 1, Green 2, Red 1, Red 2, Red 3 (still used in food, but no longer in cosmetics or external drugs), Red 4, and Violet 1. In fact, if you look at food, drugs and cosmetics in total there are 91 different dyes that were once approved and are now no longer authorized or restricted for use.
In the UK artificial dyes are allowed for use, but require a warning label stating, “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." So, as a result, food companies have mostly switched to natural dyes in order to avoid slapping a warning label on their packages.
Even though these dyes are still widely used in the US, I did find this statement on the FDA website, "Exposure to food and food components, including AFC [artificial food colors] and preservatives, may be associated with behavioral changes, not necessarily related to hyperactivity, in certain susceptible children with ADHD and other problem behaviors, and possibly in susceptible children from the general population."
I'd also like to share a link to a really interesting science experiment conducted by a kid who tested the effects of yellow dye in mice. The results are rather astounding...click to see for yourself!
Artificial Dyes Found in Surprising Places
What was once reserved for colorful, celebratory cake frosting is now lurking on almost every shelf in the grocery store. In fact, consumption of food dyes has increased 5-fold since 1955 (up from 3 million to 15 million pounds per year) - 90% of which is from Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Red 40. This is one of the many reasons why the argument that we grew up eating this stuff and turned out "just fine" doesn't hold up - processed food has changed (and continues to change) since we were kids.
So nowadays unless you shop somewhere like Whole Foods or Earth Fare (supermarkets that don't allow products with artificial dyes), get ready to do some label reading in order to avoid the above list on your next shopping trip.
Below are some examples where we found artificial food dyes. They are not just found in neon colored beverages and brightly colored candies - all of the following (even including brown cereal, whole-wheat pizza crust, and white icing!) are examples of packaged products that contain artificial dyes:
Have you found artificial dyes lurking in surprising places? Please let us know in the comments below.
Karen says
I have been watching the food dyes in my kids diets for awhile now. One that I found surprising was dyes in waffles. More specifically Eggo waffles. Who would have thought dyes would be in waffles?
april says
Having two kids with severe chemical reactions to food dyes, I'm all to familiar with what products contain which food dyes... one product that is bothering me because of the numerous commercials i have seen daily is TWIZZLERS. How can anybody willing give their kids this crap....my son goes to preschool and obviously has food restrictions, it is amazing to watch all the other parents give the kids food loaded with dyes. What gets me is all the parents know of his food dye restrictions and very few make the exception for him when planning the snacks...other kids have strawberry or peanut allergies and they have no problem abidding by those restrictions...
Alison says
Marshmallows! Why must we color them with Blue 1? My son had a reaction a few weeks ago after I inadvertently allowed him to have some blueberry cream cheese on his bagel at church. Those dyes are in everything!
Cindy Blanco says
Thank you for your work in educating us. I have been reading labels more and more and just recently discovered RED 40 in my PRE-NATAL VITAMINS, I could not believe it. Why do I care if the pills are pink?? These are issued at our local health clinic.
Deanna Jergenson says
I have been a teacher for 14 years and the change in the children's attention has changed dramatically. I really think that our food has been a major contributor.
Taryn says
I think television and media exposure in general also plays a great role in changing children's attention. 14 years ago, there wasn't nearly the availability of children's programming that there is today.
Amy Hachem says
Artificial dyes are in so many things, it's truly crazy! One of my 'pet peeves' is that PET FOOD has artificial colors! Like the cat or dog cares? CRAZY!!
Amy U says
After going the Feingold way, I learned there are fewer than a dozen products (I'm guessing but that's close) I can buy at walmart. Ugh. That's where most locals shop. Most astounding is that every single jar of banana peppers I've ever seen has yellow dye, and only one brand offers a line of pickles that does not. Why homemade pickles can look a little sickly blue-ish!
I cannot recommend feingold enough! Amazing resource for what's safe. Worth the $69-$89 fee. Saved my kids, my sanity, and hours of research. The alternative is to cook EVERYthing from scratch, which I mostly do because of the lack of shopping options where I live. They also offer online shopping resources.
Momof4 says
I have been checking food coloring for awhile now, after someone told me it could lead to learning disabilities (I'm not sure if that is true or not). I found awhile ago Hunt's snack pudding and Vanilla wafers have dye - yellow, I believe.
Debbie Mc says
Boxed cake mixes. Ok, so they're pretty awful, but every now and then, you need something in a pinch! Why put artificial colors in white/ vanilla cake mix?! There are some brands that have some flavors without dyes, but you really have to read the labels every time. The food companies can change their ingredients at any time without notifying the public, so it's important to check those labels every time.
Shallon says
In addition to asking Kraft to be an "Industry Leader" I would like to see a "Kudos" go out to other Brightly Colored Kid food items that may not be "real food" but leave out artificial dyes - I'm thinking of Goldfish and Rainbow Colored Goldfish specifically - they are very colorful, almost a staple in many households (ie very profitable for the company), and colored with vegetable extracts. Might not be real food but like Kraft it appeals to the masses and doesn't use anything artificial. Kind of a "They can Do it Why can't You?"
Cathy says
Sorry, but no. That's the fallacy of pretend healthy foods. Studies show that these foods are worse for you than ones that don't pretend to be healthy, because you (or your children) eat more of them. Mix white flour, vegetable oil, a little salt and sugar and feed it to your kids. It's pretty much the same as goldfish (and no Annie's isn't much better). You have to look at the whole picture, not one little area (such as no artificial dyes).
Cathy says
No, actually many studies have shown that fake "healthy foods" are worse for people than junkfoods because you think they are healthy. There's nothing good about goldfish. They are a combination of white flour, vegetable oil and salt with a little cheese and sugar thrown in. Annie's gold fish are also not any better (though they have a long name for their non whole wheat flour). That's why you must look at the big picture. Except for a person who is allergic a dyed orange (after all I peel mine) is better nutritionally than vegetable colored goldfish.
Cathy says
Opps my first reply didn't show up for a few hours so I reposted.
Shallon says
Oh yea, I already know what you mean. As I wrote in my original post, I didn't mean that they are healthy, I meant it in a response to Kraft and using dyes. There are already some kids food that have lots of color, but it's not artificial color. Since we are not going to rid the world of unhealthy foods, at least not quickly, we can push for natural dyes. If these other companies are given a "Kudos" for not using the worst of the bad stuff then that's another push for Kraft to eliminate their artificial colors.
MammaZ says
I was so annoyed to see that baby vitamins (poly-vi-sol) have caramel color in them :(. And my Dr recommended it too. Great job on this journey BTW!
willowsprite says
What boggles my mind is the foods that are already brightly coloured still get poisoned by dyes. And something like berry juice having flavour added to it. Really? It's BERRIES, they're already flavourful. You can't even buy white peppermints without food colouring in them. They're white because of the white sugar. We don't desperately need blue food dye in them to enhance that.
Rhonda says
My beloved Vlasic banana pepper rings have Yellow #5 in them! Really?? They're already yellow!
Lisa says
Amanda, I found a recipe for red velvet cake that used beets for the coloring. You couldn't taste them at all. Unfortunately, I can't remember the website where I found the recipe.
Angela says
Amanda- re: Red Velvet cake...google some recipes that use steamed pureed beets in a chocolate cake recipe. It won't be as red after it bakes, but it is yummy and fun.
Angela says
I agree...the white marshmallows with blue dye has to be the strangest and most crazy. The Wal-Mart brand (last time I checked) did not contain the dye...not that it is healthy, but for those last min. campfires. When I first started down the path of dye free, I could NOT find any allergy medicines for my child that were free of dye. I thought that was crazy. There are more alternatives that 5-6 years ago, so it seems to be catching on...I hope.
Carolyn says
@Amanda..I was told true red velvet cake color comes from the reaction of vinegar to other ingredients in the mix. Sad to think they have to use food dyes to get it red, and considering it's really really red, I can only imagine how much has to be added!
Rachel says
I read a recipe for red velvet a few months ago... It said to put the WHOLE bottle in. I told my husband we are never eating red velvet again!
I'm so bummed about the frosting though. My daughter (5) knows to scrape most of the icing off her treat cupcakes at school. I've told her white is okay. I hate to have to take that away from her too. :(
Rebecca says
P.S. - You may wish to make these two changes -
"Artificial color" usually means natural colors have been added from a from a plant, animal, or mineral source. Any petroleum based dyes used in U.S. products must be listed specifically by their individual names like Red 40, Red 3, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, and Citrus Red.
Also, Citrus Red is only used on Florida oranges, not on frankfurters or sausages. "Orange B" is used in frankfurters an sausages.
Hope this helps!
Critical Reader says
Check out the FDA webpage. There are certified colors and exempt colors. The certified ones (and a few others) need to be declared by name, but not the other ones. Exempt colors can also be the product of chemical synthesis or what you call "petroleum based". For example, carotenoids can be extracted from a natural source or synthesized in the lab.
Rebecca says
Critical Reader, I did get my info from the FDA website. That's why I think the phrase "Dyes are also sometimes listed as Artificial Color" - added to the bottom of a list of specifically named synthetic colors (as in, not derived from plants or animals) - could be very confusing to her readers. It makes it appear that if they are just avoiding synthetic dyes as listed right above that phrase, that they should also avoid anything with the phrase "Artificial color", but that is not necessarily always the case.
I check my info before posting, and that is how I know this as well as the Citrus Red and Orange B mixup. Thanks!
Shari Janovsky says
Thank you Lisa and team for your continuous research and information you provide! I have been looking all ingredients since I got hooked to your website.
Thank you!
Sarah says
I had to go get my daughter some fever reducer tonight as she has been fighting a virus all week. I always buy Hyland's natural dye free cold medicine for her, but have had a hard time giving her Tylenol and motrin knowing of the dye's in them. I was very pleased tonight to find Motrin Dye Free available at CVS! Awesome!
Rebecca says
Thanks for posting. Please sign and share my petition directed to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, asking them to #DitchTheDyes from children's antibiotics, vitamins, allergy and cold meds, and toothpaste: http://www.diefooddye.com/petition/ We rarely have dye-free choices when it comes to antibiotics, and we expose our kids to vitamins and toothpaste daily. Thanks for your support!
Amanda says
I was wondering what are natural dyes to replace the red dye in red velvet cake, etc.
Thank you!
willowsprite says
Juice from red beets!
Critical Reader says
Traditional red velvet cake recipes do not contain any added dye at all. Therefore, it has a reddish-brownish color and not a bright red color.
Sheila says
I was shocked when I realized that our "gel" toothpaste had blue dyes in it. Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner!
Joy says
If your kids are showing reactions to artificial dyes, they may also have reactions to artificial flavors and sweeteners, as well as the petroleum-based preservatives BHA, BHT, and TBHQ. You might look into the Feingold diet, it has been very helpful for our family. They do have "non" real food choices on their foodlists (like fried potato chips for example), but they are free of the items listed above at least. Some preservatives can be sprayed inside the packaging and not listed on the ingredient list. Feingold contacts the food manufacturers directly asking some pretty tough questions, to ensure the food doesn't contain any bad stuff.
Also, the FDA makes money for every pound of color they "certify" so this is definitely the fox guarding the hen house.
Melissa says
If you're feeding your kids real food, you don't need vitamins!
Malika Bourne says
I appreciate all the work you done.
I have decided that most food on the american grocery shelves is CRAP! I nearly feel like questioning if this is some kind of plot against our children. (sounds like a novel plot.) I call dibs on the that one. Really, the chemists that develop this crap know the truth. In the 50's I remember hearing the bible passage about in the latter days picking up deadly poison and it won't harm them. (EZ, I think. I had wondered why people would deliberately eat or drink poison. My policy is to avoid politics and religion-i'm breaking my rule. The reality is we are feeding ourselves and our children what?
I am flabbergasted at why we are consuming deadly poison.
ash says
Malika...I have often wondered the same thing. Mostly because there seems to be absolutely no explanation that makes any sense. So the explanations that sound almost crazy may be the ones that could sadly be true :(
Katelin says
I was really surprised (and incredibly annoyed!) to find yellow dye in the grain cereal we eat. It doesn't even "look" like it has dye in it. Also I had no idea they were coloring oranges. :(
Stacy says
Keep up the amazing work Lisa! You are helping more people than you know!
Chris Chaney says
Marshmallows! They contain blue dye. I am learning that items that are typically white (and processed) have blue in them.
debbie says
Isn't caramel color an artificial dye as well? Does it cause health issues?
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says
Hi Debbie. An ingredient in caramel coloring, such that is in some colas, has been listed as being a carcinogen. ~Amy
Lindsey says
Odd places dyes show up:
Blue on marshmallows
Hand soap
Toothpaste
Frosting
Chocolate things
Pickles
A lot of store brands make the same thing without dyes...for example for camping, we found an off brand that didn't have blue in them. Read your labels!! My son has severe behavior issues after consuming dyes and some preservatives.
Ashley Nelson says
I was surprised to see dyes in chocolate pudding. We avoid yellow #5 specifically in our house because of an asthmatic and hive reaction in my youngest son. We are adding more dyes to our avoid list now after reading your blog and Vani's FoodBabe. Thanks again for your courage to fight for our food!! You rock!
Kerry says
I was looking around the bathroom for dyes...wow... it is in lots of stuff. I even noticed a few not on the list. I'm assuming avoiding all dyes is preferable but curious why some aren't mentioned...
I'm learning a lot from your blog...thanks for your tireless efforts!
Brooke says
Am I wrong that when it is listed as "artificial color" like the pizza crust, it does not contain petro dyes? I understand that if something contains petroleum derived dyes the dyes MUST be listed by the name and number...Red 40, Yellow 5.
Heidi Hollenbach says
Thank you for this informative article. I made a list of the artificial dyes to avoid and will be checking labels more carefully! We don't eat many processed food, but I had neglected to check my children's vitamins and medicine. I appreciate all you do to help our families!
Lindsey says
The most frustrating one for me is marshmallows. It is almost impossible to find dye-free marshmallows.
heather says
Walmart's Great Value brand has no blue dye in them. And believe it or not, I've found dye free marshmallows at the Dollar Tree.
Maggie says
Blueberry bagels, blueberry muffins, etc. You'd think they could just put blueberries in, but nope, they add blue dye.
Carmen Davis says
I was shocked to see the flinstones vitamins on that list! I just bought some for my son thinking "oh im doing something to better his overall health"! Does anyone know of a childrens vitamin sans all the artificialness??? Err!!!
Candace says
My son gets horrible abdominal migraines from artificial dyes and colorants. He is on the autism spectrum and has a broken gut so for years we assumed his gut pain was constipation. A we cleaned up more of our diet and took more processed foods out of our diets we came to this realization. Just another reason to get rid of this crap in our foods. :(
Megan says
I found red #40 in strawberry Philadelphia cream cheese :-(