Recommendation to Manufacturers: Refrain from Using Colorants

The Croatian Food Agency, referring to a report from the Croatian Institute of Public Health which states that the colorant Red 2G, marked as E128, was not found in meat products, advocates the position and recommends food manufacturers to refrain from using unnecessary additives, especially when it comes to colors and flavors.

The Scientific Committee AFC at the European Food Safety Authority EFSA published an opinion and warnings in July regarding the artificial food color Red 2G, which is designated by the E number E128, and whose re-evaluation is ongoing. This is a synthetic red azo dye, for which multiple scientific studies and accompanying research have established that during metabolic degradation in the human body, aniline is produced, which is a carcinogen and destroys genetic cellular structure.

Photographed by Anton Malan

Despite such properties, the use of azo dye Red 2G, or E 128, as we learn from the E-number Advisory Council of the Association for Democratic Development, is permitted in certain types of sausages, as well as in dishes such as various “…burgers” made from minced meat with at least four percent grain or other plant additives. Indeed, the use of this additive has so far been limited by the ADI, the so-called acceptable daily intake expressed as 0.1 mg/kg of body weight, which is by definition the amount of additive considered safe for consumption without harmful health effects. Such doses were typically derived from calculations based on those that did not harm test animals during laboratory trials, to those with the same or expected “harmless” effect on the human body.

The Croatian Food Agency, in its statement, referring to the report from the Croatian Institute of Public Health which states that the mentioned dye was not found in meat products, advocates the position and recommends food manufacturers to refrain from using unnecessary additives, especially when it comes to colors and flavors, if they are not truly essential in the technological process of food production. The previously permitted amount of dye Red 2G in food was 20 mg/kg.

Basing its conclusions on earlier findings from the EU Risk Assessment Commission, according to which aniline is considered carcinogenic because its mechanism of action on genetic cellular structure cannot be excluded, it has now been concluded that it is impossible to determine a safe dose of aniline for human health. Therefore, AFC has decided, in the spirit of food safety, to withdraw the ADI, that is, the acceptable daily intake for the additive Red 2G, or E128. Should further research eventually provide solid evidence that aniline is not related to the induction of tumor formation in the human body, or at least establish its lesser significance in this regard, AFC will then be ready for a re-evaluation of the dye Red 2G or E128.

Photographed by Pam Roth

The mentioned opinion of AFC and EFSA is the first in a series of expected and announced re-evaluations of additives that are today largely encompassed and systematized by the E-number system used in the food industry.

In addition to reporting this case to the European Commission, EFSA has dedicated the highest priority to colorants in the re-evaluation of all approved food additives in the EU, as was actually required by the European Commission. This is because food colorants were among the first additives evaluated according to the regulations and scientific knowledge of about 30 years ago, and as new scientific discoveries about the mechanisms of action of these additives during metabolic processes in the human body have emerged over the years, a new risk assessment of the use of 45 previously approved colorants in the food industry is expected from AFC this year.

In parallel with colorants, some at least questionable groups of additives are being investigated, such as benzoates as derivatives of benzoic acid, which are covered by E numbers from E 214 to E 219. Among them, the harmful effects of propyl and sodium propyl hydroxybenzoate (E 216 and E 217) have already been established, even at very low doses, on sperm production. Compounds from the same group E210 -E219, let us remind, in combination with ascorbic acid, that is, vitamin C, create highly carcinogenic benzene. Manufacturers of non-alcoholic carbonated beverages, in which the formation of benzene has been observed, had promised the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 15 years ago that they would reformulate the incriminated beverages, but they all remained silent about it until last year’s alarming revelations about benzene in beverages and children’s juices in the EU. Therefore, based on these few examples, and also considering the many banned additives in certain countries, significant activity in the re-evaluation of all groups of food additives in the EU is expected. (Mladen Volarić)