There is no such thing as a blue raspberry, but thanks to food dyes, specifically Blue 1, people worldwide enjoy foods flavored by the imaginary fruit.
With the announcement of the FDA's ban of Red 3 nearly 35 years after it was deemed unsafe for cosmetics and some states banning a wider array of the additives, you may be wondering if you should avoid foods containing these dyes.
Experts have been increasingly weighing in and putting pressure on the FDA to make changes on artificial dyes in recent years and especially recent months, including two key figures who spoke to The Cool Down: Brian Ronholm, the director of food policy at Consumer Reports, and Thomas Galligan, the principal scientist for food additives and supplements at the Center for Science and the Public Interest.
What is Blue 1 and why is it added to food?
Blue 1 is a synthetic dye used in food, drugs, and cosmetics throughout the United States and Europe. Today, the dye is typically made from petroleum, but Galligan told The Cool Down that they used to be called coal tar dyes because they were initially derived from coal.
The dye is added to food for reasons that are 100% aesthetic.
"There is no nutritional value associated with synthetic food dyes," Ronholm explained to The Cool Down. "Synthetic food dyes are added strictly for aesthetic reasons, specifically to give food products a brighter, more colorful appearance."
"These are not adding any nutrients to the food," Galligan added. "It's a money-making marketing tool for the food industry."
Is Blue 1 safe?
Regarding the seven main dyes, Blue 1 is of lower concern overall when added to food.
However, Galligan pointed out that research has indicated that it, and other food dyes, "can exacerbate neurobehavioral problems in some children."
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The way it looks 😍 "Studies have linked synthetic food dyes to inattentiveness, learning difficulties, and other adverse behavioral outcomes in children," Ronholm explained further.
According to the CSPI, regarding Blue 1 specifically, one as-yet-unpublished study reported kidney tumors in mice, and a test-tube study suggested the dye could affect the development of nerve cells. The dye most often causes allergic reactions.
Why hasn't the FDA banned Blue 1?
Galligan told The Cool Down that the main reason the FDA has not banned all food dyes is that it is under no obligation to do so and may lack the drive to do so.
"The result of that is what we're seeing here with all these food dyes, which is that the FDA makes their approval decades ago and then never meaningfully reassesses the safety of these chemicals even as evidence mounts that they are harmful," he said. "And so these chemicals linger in our food supply long after evidence of harm emerges."
What should consumers do about Blue 1?
"Part of the problem with the FDA's failure to act is that it does fall on consumers to have to protect themselves," Galligan said.
And while that's true and "there should be concern," Ronholm added, "consumers shouldn't panic."
Ronholm further said that minimizing the consumption of foods containing these dyes and other ultra-processed foods would benefit consumers.
Galligan said consumers can use the CSPI's Chemical Cuisine resource to identify additives the organization thinks they should avoid. Ronholm pointed out that natural alternatives to food dyes are available that are less toxic and equally cost-effective. Alternatives to blue dye include plant-derived colorants like spirulina, butterfly pea flower extract, anthocyanin, and red cabbage.
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