EU plans to take colour out of food
A new crack down on food colouring will make salmon less pink and egg yolks less yellow, the European Commission admitted today.
But officials in Brussels say that the latest EU-wide rules are needed because the additive that makes salmon and eggs more attractive to the eye is also damaging people’s sight.
The culprit is canthaxanthin, a pigment used as a feed additive, precisely to buff up the natural hue of salmon and of egg yolks.
Scientists have found a link between a high canthaxanthin intake and eyesight problems, prompting today’s new rules restricting the amount of the pigment which can be used.
EU Food Health Commissioner David Byrne said: “Scientific assessments have shown that a high intake of the additive produces an accumulation of pigments in the retina, affecting sight.
“The use of this feed additive is purely cosmetic, to colour food, and reduced levels of it will not adversely affect the taste or quality of our food.”
Natural salmon gets its colour from its shrimp diet, and canthaxanthin is used to give farmed salmon the same tint – because consumers expect it.
The same additive is used to meet consumer demands for deep yellow egg yolks.
But now the Commission says that looks aren’t everything.
The EU’s Scientific Committee on Food decided in 1997 that there was a link between canthaxanthin and retinal problems, and set an “acceptable daily intake” level for the additive of 0.03 milligrams per kilogram of human body weight.
To help keep to this limit, the Commission asked animal nutrition experts to review the amounts of the additive going into feed for laying hens and for farmed salmon.
They say the current permitted ceiling of 80 milligrams per kilogram of feed is far too high, and should be slashed to 25 milligrams for salmon and to just eight milligrams for laying hens.
These are the limits which must be introduced in feed in all EU countries by December 1 this year.
