Huge grass-roots movement against food additives

Many people talk about artificial additives in our food, drinks and medicines. Parents and carers will often express frustration. Larger organisations have also taken the matter on board.

In fact there is a huge groundswell of support out there from many individuals and organisations who are keen to tackle the issue of artificial additives in our food.

Check out the following key groups:

• The Parents' Jury is very active and includes an online network of parents, grandparents and guardians who are campaigning to ensure our children have healthy food and lifestyles. The team is also putting together a manifesto for the 2013 Federal Election which includes a number of issues relating to healthy food choices and the use of additives.

• The Food Intolerance Network is speerheaded by Sue Dengate who is also the best-selling author of the book Fed Up. The Network focuses on food intolerances and offers advice on how to eliminate additives and other chemicals from our diet. Sue developed the Failsafe diet which is now used by families across Australia and internationally. She has also written a useful summary about artificial colours in the UK and Australia - read the link here.

• The Trusted Trolley aims to help families become more aware of food additives when they shop. The team provides advice on how to avoid additives and preservatives at the supermarket, particularly when shopping for young children.

These three organisations alone have a huge online following, including thousands of Facebook followers.

But there are also many other general parenting groups, websites and blogs which discuss the issue of artificial food additives and also promote a range of healthy food issues. A snapshot is as follows:

• The parenting website, Kidspot Australia, has tackled the issue here
• Nutrition expert and author Catherine Saxelby has written about the issue here.
• Let's Live Additive Free has a website and blog here.

Aldi and other supermarkets have also been phasing out artificial colours and preservatives from their own branded products - see the report here. Sadly, however, many of the major manufacturers have not yet changed their ingredients.

The network of physical and online parenting groups is huge and continues to grow. Many of them keep in touch with each other via Twitter, Facebook and other forums.

Meanwhile many individual parents and guardians face the constant struggle every day to avoid artificial colours and preservatives in their children's food, drinks and medicines.

So why, then, do we still have excessive amounts of additives in so many of our supermarket and speciality foods?

Surely it is time for a change. The groundswell of support is out there so let's take this to the next level and put pressure on our politicians and manufacturers to clean up our food once and for all.