If you've ever been concerned or bored enough to read the ingredient list on a package of food, you've probably seen them: FD&C Red 3, Blue 2, Yellow 5, and more. These names belong to synthetic food dyes used in an array of products. But should we be consuming them?
The Cool Down asked two experts on the subject to weigh in: Brian Ronholm, the director of food policy at Consumer Reports, and Thomas Galligan, the principal scientist for food additives and supplements at the national nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.
What is Blue 2, and why is it added to food?
Blue 2 is one of several synthetic food dyes, most of which were derived from coal tar and now come from petroleum, though Blue 2 itself does not include petroleum and instead comes synthetically from sulfonation of indigo dye.
"Blue No. 2, or 'indigotine' … is a synthetic version of the plant-based indigo that has a long history as a textile dye," according to Scientific American.
In food, the sole purpose of artificial food dyes is to add color, with no other benefits. "Synthetic food dyes are added strictly for aesthetic reasons, specifically to give food products a brighter, more colorful appearance," Ronholm explained to The Cool Down.
"Those substances are added to our food exclusively … to make them look a certain way so that consumers want to buy them," Galligan told The Cool Down. "These are not adding any nutrients to the food. They are not preserving the food or otherwise performing any sort of essential function. It's purely just for marketing."
Is Blue 2 safe?
When it comes to the safety of Blue 2, the CSPI's Rainbow of Risks paper from 2010 said it was clear that the risks outweigh the benefits.
"Given the statistically significant occurrence of tumors, particularly brain gliomas, in
male rats [subjected to Blue 2], Blue 2 cannot be considered safe for human consumption," the paper reported. "Since Blue 2 is a non-nutritive food additive that does not provide any health benefit and there is hardly 'convincing evidence' of safety, it should not be permitted for human consumption."
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Majorly 😥 When examining the effects of Blue 2 and other synthetic food dyes, both Ronholm and Galligan referred to a landmark study by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment that was released in 2021 and examined seven dyes with similar properties.
"[The study] found that many food dyes are known to make some children vulnerable to behavioral difficulties and decreased attention," Ronholm said.
Galligan added: "It's unclear exactly what the safe dose might be for a kid that's sensitive to dyes. But right now the levels that they're used at do clearly present a risk to some kids."
Not only that, but some of the dyes also present "other health concerns," according to Galligan. He cited the example of Red 3.
"The [Food and Drug Administration] itself determined that Red 3 is an animal carcinogen back in 1990, and they have been obligated to ban it ever since," he said. "They're obligated under federal law to ban any cancer-causing color or food additive. And they just have failed to do so for now approaching 35 years."
Both experts pointed out that safer alternatives are already being used in other countries where these dyes have been banned — sometimes by the same companies still peddling dyed food in the United States.
Why hasn't the FDA banned Blue 2?
The continued use of synthetic food dyes can be attributed to many factors, including a lack of funding for the FDA to pursue the issue and an internal process that doesn't account for reviewing already approved additives.
Galligan also pointed to a major problem with laws surrounding food additives that he called the GRAS loophole.
"Congress included an exemption for substances that are 'generally recognized as safe,'" he explained. "And that was clearly intended by Congress to basically allow things like vinegar and flour and vegetable oil. … That industry has exploited it and turned it into a full-blown loophole where they essentially just can pay their own employees or consultants to declare a new substance as 'generally recognized as safe,' or GRAS, and then they don't have to do anything else."
What should consumers do about Blue 2?
"There should be concern, but consumers shouldn't panic," said Ronholm, who suggested reducing consumption going forward. "It's unfair that the current regulatory system creates an unfair burden on consumers, but it will require work from consumers to get educated on food additives and identify which ones to avoid."
Galligan provided a partial list of additives to avoid: the seven synthetic food dyes covered by the California study (Blue 1 and 2, Green 3, Red 3 and 40, and Yellow 5 and 6) — plus Orange B and Citrus Red 2, which are used much less often and typically to coat food products such as sausage casings and oranges. He also pointed to CSPI's Chemical Cuisine resource, which includes safety ratings for specific food additives, for more information.
"What consumers can do is they can use our Chemical Cuisine resource to identify additives that CSPI thinks they should avoid and then they can read ingredient lists and avoid buying products containing those additives," he said.
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