Message #12065

[Zainab_M]

You're right sis.  I'm also awfully wary about these synthetic food dyes.  Yet, almost every single thing we buy contains either synthetic yellow, red or blue. These colors are also used for mixing other shades in various foods, cosmetics, toiletries and medicines.  It's definitely worrisome.  Although some people are turning to natural food colors, majority are not bothered.  For this reason, it's very difficult to find natural food colors in regular stores.  If you look for food colors even in the best grocery shops, they will only have synthetic colors.  You might be able to find natural food colors through certain online sources like Amazon or e-Bay etc.   However, there are three or four natural food stores in the U.S. that are selling natural food colors.  You can check the site NATURAL FOOD COLORING for info.  Also, if you scroll down on this page, you will find suggested methods of making your own natural colors at home viz. yellow, red and green with tumeric, beet and spinach, respectively.  That's interesting.  Yellow and green seem easy enough but extracting natural red from beet is a bit complicated.

From what I know, cheddar cheese is okay.  The deep yellow color used in it is annatto.  This is a seed derived from a plant with the same name.  It's a natural food dye.  The seeds look very red but while processing as food color, these seeds can vary in color from bright yellow to deep orange.  This plant is very commonly found in South America and used in many South American foods for its yellow or deep yellow color.  I read that in South America it's also available quite readily in stores in whole seeds or powder. 

According to reports, Nestle's Smarties has dumped all synthetic food dyes for its chocolate beans and is now using a complete range of natural colors.   So, that way it's safe.  But there's another big problem .. so I have read.  I saw in a few websites that Smarties is not Halal because it uses whey as one of its milk ingredients which involves the use of rennet - an animal product - the same whey which is used in some brands of cheese not certified as Halal.  But I will have to double check on this.  I recently got some smarties from nearby Bulk Barn store.  I got it because the listed ingredients on the bin did not mention artificial colors.   I also ate a few and then learned about the use of whey.   I've now put it aside until I again visit that Bulk Barn store to re-check on its list of ingredients.   Right now I cannot recall if whey was mentioned .. if it was, I would have known that it isn't Halal .. or maybe I overlooked while reading in a hurry.