Risk assessment of synthetic food colours: a case study in Hyderabad, India

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to assess the risk of selected population to synthetic food colours. Children had high intakes of coloured solid (2?465 g day−1) and liquid foods (25?840 ml day−1). The study showed the predominant consumption of two colours such as tartrazine and sunset yellow mainly from sweetmeats, beverages and fast foods while colours like carmoisine, ponceau 4R and erythrosine were consumed by the intake of confectioneries, jams, jellies showing that the preference of colours is based on the type of foods consumed. The intakes of colours like tartrazine, erythrosine and sunset yellow were high among children due to ingestion of foods containing high concentrations of colours (9.45 and 4.0 mg). The study emphasised the need to evaluate the risk of the population to colours on a long-term basis.