The Creeping Menace of Caramel Coloring

Published on Wednesday, February 16, 2011, by Joyce Slaton / Edit Post

Ever read a can of soda and stopped at the words "caramel coloring"? It sounds so innocent and tasty. Who doesn't like caramel? Nothing to worry about here.

Wrong, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has filed a regulatory petition asking that the FDA ban the coloring agent used in sodas such as Coke and Pepsi, because it contains carcinogenic substances.

The problem lies with the way caramel coloring is made. Though you might picture a pan full of hot sugar, in the lab, various types of sugars are put under high pressure and temperatures with ammonia and sulfites. There are four kinds of caramel coloring; types III and IV are the ones CSPI is worried about, containing as they do the substances 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole. Shall we let CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson explain why this is a problem? Seems that 2-MI and 4-MI "have been shown in government studies to promote lung, liver, and thyroid tumors in laboratory rats and mice." Oh really? Terrific.

The state of California has already placed 4-MI on its list of known carcinogens. CSPI wants the FDA to go further. "As Congress recognized when it passed the food and color additives amendments 50 years ago, chemicals that cause cancer in animals have no place in the food supply," CSPI writes in its 16-page report on the matter. "That is particularly true when the chemicals serve only a cosmetic function, as opposed to a nutritional or preservative function. Barring the use of the caramel colorings produced with ammonia could prevent cancer in thousands of consumers."

Kinda creepy when you consider that caramel coloring is in everything. Everything! Check out a few package labels sometime. It's in chips, beer, baked goods, drinks of all kinds, whiskey, even soy sauce! Granted it's not all kinds of caramel color that are under fire, and also that, as Jacobson writes in the Huffington Post, "Because 2- and 4-methylimidazole do not appear to be highly potent carcinogens, the 10 teaspoons of obesity-promoting high-fructose corn syrup in a can of cola should still be considered a much greater health risk." Still, the days when we skipped merrily over the words "caramel coloring" on an ingredient list should probably come to an end.

Image source: Flickr member Cavin under Creative Commons

ALLHealthy Eating
POST A COMMENT |4 Comments

COMMENT

  • This comment on caramel made me think of my friend, celebrated Master Chef Santi Santamaria who sadly passed away on 16 Feb in his restaurant kitchen of a big heart attack. It happened in Singapore in his restaurant "Santi".
    Sadly, no one carried out CPR to save him. They waited for an ambulance and by then it was too late.
    Santi hated artificial colouring, chemicals and ingedients and always...+READ

    This comment on caramel made me think of my friend, celebrated Master Chef Santi Santamaria who sadly passed away on 16 Feb in his restaurant kitchen of a big heart attack. It happened in Singapore in his restaurant "Santi".
    Sadly, no one carried out CPR to save him. They waited for an ambulance and by then it was too late.
    Santi hated artificial colouring, chemicals and ingedients and always condemned his rival Ferran Adria's use of many chemical additives in his molecular cuisine. For the uninitiated molecular G uses stuff like sodium alginate, lecithin, calcium carbonate, pectin and many other chemicals. Ferran taught me some of his techniques over two days last year. Having been privileged to learn to cook some of this signature dishes from Santi, I know that his favourite condiments were salt and pepper. Yes, I kid you not!
    Well, it is a great loss to gastronomy. Saint Peter will be happy now...
    Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet-COLLAPSE

  • I'm pretty sure that most browned foods are a hazard. There are plenty of warnings about browned meat, vegetables, or for that matter, browned anything. BBQ gets talked about allot http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bbq/bad-things-good-food.html
    Moderation in all things. I agree that mindless sugar consumption that comes with soda consumption (corn or cane) is a bigger concern. Little glasses of...+READ

    I'm pretty sure that most browned foods are a hazard. There are plenty of warnings about browned meat, vegetables, or for that matter, browned anything. BBQ gets talked about allot http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bbq/bad-things-good-food.html
    Moderation in all things. I agree that mindless sugar consumption that comes with soda consumption (corn or cane) is a bigger concern. Little glasses of the tasty stuff is best.-COLLAPSE

  • The obvious questions in these cases:

    1. How much of the stuff is actually in a serving of soda?
    2. How much of the stuff were given to rats?
    3. What is the human equivalent?
    4. What other substances can be called carcinogenic under similar conditions?

    I'll bet on: A tiny amount, a ton, a ridiculous amount you'll never consume and a whole lotta things.

  • CSPI may have a point, but for me everything they say is tainted by the fact that they're media whores who won't be happy until we are all eating nothing but little white pills.