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.

EU food labelling

Wow! If only we had the same labelling laws in Australia as they do in Europe.

Following studies and new regulations, food manufactures in the EU now have to put warning labels on food and drink (non-alcoholic) that contains any of the "Southampton Six" artificial colours.

These six colours are Tartrazine (102), Quinoline yellow (104), Sunset yellow (110), Azorubine / Carmoisine (122), Ponceau 4R (124) and Allura red (129).

From July 2010, the labels must be clearly legible and must carry the warning words "May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".

The EU, or European Union, has 27 member countries. These include Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and others.

In Britain the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is also encouraging manufacturers to find alternative ingredients to these artificial colours. Many manufacturers and retailers have therefore been removing these colours from their products voluntarily.

In addition, the British FSA is publishing lists on its website of those food product ranges that do not contain the six critical artificial colours. This is clearly a public 'pat on the back' for companies which produce foods responsibly.

Sadly the equivalent body in Australia, known as Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), does not take the same view or approach as the British and European authorities and does not even appear to acknowledge the impacts that these food additives can have.

More's the pity for many children and families in Australia who feel the challenging impacts of these additives in their food and drinks. Avoiding such products is not always as easy as it sounds.

 

Artificial colours to avoid

Well, another year has descended upon us and we continue our vigilance against artificial colours in our food and drink.

So what are the artificial colours to avoid? I will list these in two  groups.

The first is often known as the "Southampton Six" as they were the subject of some significant studies conducted in Southampton in the UK several years ago. The studies were funded by the Food Standards Agency and indicated these colours can have a major impact on some children's behaviour, including increased hyperactivity. The studies also found the same outcomes with preservative E211, sodium benzoate. These six colours, and E211, are therefore the most serious colours we deal with. They are generally reds and yellows and are as follows:

• E102 - Tartrazine
• E104 - Quinoline yellow
• E110 - Sunset yellow
• E122 - Azorubine / Carmoisine
• E124 - Ponceau 4R
• E129 - Allura red

The second group comprises of several more artificial colours which, in my experience, also have a major impact on children's behaviour. These are as follows:

• E123 - Amaranth (deep brown red)
• E127 - Erythrosine (cherry pink)
• E132 - Indigotine (blue denim)
• E133 - Brilliant blue
• E142 - Green S
• E143 - Fast green
• E151 - Brilliant black
• E155 - Brown HT

Good luck with avoiding these artificial colours in our food and drink. They are widely used and it is often quite a challenge to stay on top of them all.

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Food colourings at Christmas

Christmas is often a tricky time for children susceptible to the effects of artificial food colourings. There are so many more sweet temptations on offer, and sadly some children need to steer well clear.

My own son does Nippers at our local beach and last Sunday was the last session before Christmas. At the end of the session all the young Nippers received a special visit from Santa - which was great for many of them, but not for my son.

Santa came along with a big red sack and all the children looked at him eagerly. Then he pulled out some goodies from inside the bag - a small pack of Allen's lollies for every child in the group. The children all lined up and happily waited their turn, then received their prize and went their own ways to devour their lollies. My son, however, received his bag of lollies then came over to me with a very disappointed look on his face. He knew he wouldn't be able to eat the lollies as they contained all sorts of artificial colours in them - and its just not worth it for everyone involved.

Instead we came home and he had some Natural Confectionery lollies which are free of artificial colours. He was happy with this, as he knows there is usually an alternative which is available. But its a shame he couldn't just join in at the beach.

My question to the big manufactures is this - why is it that some companies can process food without the extra colourings, while others insist on putting them in. Clearly, if some companies can do without the added colours they are hardly a necessary ingredient. A green lolly can still look green without an extra colour enhancer. But what these companies don't understand is the impact this has on our children.

In parts of Europe and elsewhere many of these artificial colours are banned. Why can't we do the same in Australia?