Cracking Down on Artificial Food Colours

1. The Unseen Threat in Street Food

Small vendors often skip expensive, safe food colours and use hazardous industrial dyes because they are incredibly cheap and give food a vibrant, highly attractive look.

• Fake Chutneys & Meats: The new guidelines strictly ban artificial colours in green and red chutneys, telling vendors to use real tomatoes, mint, and beetroot instead. It also outlaws the use of dyes to make tandoori chicken, fried fish, and kebabs look bright red (advising the use of natural Kashmiri chilli).
• Widespread Adulteration: Beyond meats and cotton candy, these industrial dyes are routinely used to make turmeric, lentils (dals), and chilli powder look fresher and more vibrant than they actually are.

2. The Hidden Poisons (Chemical Hazards)

The health effects of these chemicals are not felt immediately, making them a slow, silent poison.

• Rhodamine-B: A notorious industrial dye meant for colouring textiles and paper, not human stomachs. Long-term consumption of this chemical can lead to severe liver dysfunction and cancer.
• Other Banned Toxins: Chemicals like Metanil Yellow, Malachite Green, and Sudan dyes are strictly prohibited in food.
• Severe Allergies: Even certain synthetic colours that are sometimes used (like Tartrazine yellow or Carmoisine red) are linked to severe hypersensitivity, causing hives, swelling of the throat, and breathing difficulties.

3. What Does the Law Say?

• Category-Specific Rules: Indian food laws work on strict categories. Just because a specific colour is legally permitted to be used in a birthday cake does not mean it can be legally mixed into street-side chutney or bread.
• The Heat Factor: Safety isn’t just about how much colour you eat, but how it is cooked. The law mandates that colours used in deep-fried snacks must have proven “heat stability” so they don’t break down into toxic by-products when thrown into boiling oil.