In order to make the food attractive for the customers our manufactures use different colors. These colors are being used widely in many types of recipes like ice balls, many fancy drinks especially in top hotels. Even the house wives use dyes to color rice, salads to give them more appetizing look. Some cheap restaurant and road side fast food snack bars use these colors in fake items and ketchups.
Food Colors developed essentially for food industry are expensive but contain no ingredient known to cause harm to humans. Some of food colors like zafraan and some flavorings agents like koura are originally extracted from plants which have harmful effects.
As the original food colors are expensive, some manufactures in developing countries use textile dyes or even industrial pigments in their products because these are cheaper than food colors and can cause severe damage to health. They themselves are unaware of the fact that with such hazardous chemicals they are giving toxic substances to people.
All carcinogenic dyes are banned in developed countries. Instead they have introduced harmless food dyes in their food industry.
Main effects
The hazards of indiscriminate use of dyes in food stuff came under serious study in mid 1950’s when it was found out that rate of stomach cancer in Japan was highest due to high use of colors item in meals. It was also recorded that people who worked in chemical factories producing dyes had high rate of blood cancer.
Research abroad has shown this food colors’ link with cancer and abnormalities in the Foetus. A number of spicy items which are cheap and easily available in the market such as acetic acid attack the kidneys and may form stone in them.
The stones formed by acetic acid are branched structures which are highly resilient and seldom defuse by medicine.
Small children suffer from couth cancer due to harmful dyes contained within items such as sweet candies and toffees.
How to control it
Dyes used in food items are subject to strict controls in many countries while manufactures are also bound to carry details of any dyes used on the packing of items they are marketing.
Also proper legislation is required to make all the manufacturers and concerned parties obey those rules strictly. Such standards should be introduced which approves the quality of all food or edible items being marketed in the country. Under the rule, the manufactures submit the ingredient of their product. The marketing of such products should only allowed after the approval of the governing body.
We can say that the use of dyes without knowledge of their properties is an extremely dangerous practice and it need immediate attention as it is corroding the health of our future generation.
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