♪ ♪
Hey, Alyson.
-Hi, nice to see you. -Good to see you.
-Let's go check out some labels. -Sounds good.
[Rosa]
with dietitian Alyson Martinez,
looking at labels to see what's being added to our food.
Let's check out the frozen aisle.
From frozen foods to snacks...
Get those nice fried Doritos.
...to candy...
Load them in there.
...and more.
Okay.
We're checking out
some colourful ingredients.
Allura red.
So that's a common red synthetic food dye.
-[Rosa] Uh, Sunset Yellow. -[Alyson] Sunset Yellow?
Tartrazine is another artificial food dye
that creates a yellow colour in foods.
So how often are Allura red and Tartrazine
and Sunset Yellow found in foods?
I would say they're the artificial food dyes
you're gonna see most frequently.
[Rosa]
But, are they good for us?
That's what Thomas Galligan is asking.
These food dyes are marketing tools for the food industry.
[Rosa]
for the US food and health watchdog
Centre for Science in the Public Interest.
They are used to make food look more visually appealing
so that you and I as consumers want to buy them.
But they really offer no benefit to the consumer.
But we like food to look good.
So what is the concern about
having these artificial dyes in our food?
These synthetic food dyes can cause or exacerbate
neurobehavioral problems in some kids.
Things like inattention, hyperactivity, sleeplessness,
restlessness, irritability, these sorts of things.
[Rosa]
have changed how these products are sold.
Since 2010, in the EU,
there has been a requirement that foods that contain
certain synthetic food dyes like the three that we're discussing
actually have to have a warning label to warn consumers
about the effects that they have on children's behaviour.
[Rosa]
Not everybody is gonna be impacted by synthetic food dyes.
Canadian consumers should be offered the opportunity
to protect their kids, just like European consumers.
[Rosa]
Time to order some popular products from overseas.
Stick that candy in the cart.
We've got M&Ms, Skittles,
Doritos, Nerds,
Nerds Gummy Clusters,
and Kool-Aid.
The Canadian versions of the same products
have one or more of the synthetic dyes:
Allura red, Tartrazine,
or Sunset Yellow FCF.
Also known as Red Dye No. 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6.
Okay, that should do it.
We'll see what's in those products when they get here.
While we wait for our international snack shipment
to be delivered, we're heading to
Niagara College Culinary School
to find out what's in these dyes.
Many of the artificial colours
are actually petroleum by products.
[Rosa]
shows us two of them.
Can you show me the Allura red? What does it look like?
So, oftentimes people are mystified by
what different food additives look like.
It is not a big mystery.
It looks like a small, dark red powder.
[Rosa]
As you can guess, it gives a very bold yellow colour.
[Rosa]
are also more stable during manufacturing.
Boiling the sugar for candy
is done at extremely high temperatures,
and, as such, we need to have heat-stable colours
that are not going to scorch out and burn in that process.
[Rosa] Okay, it's here.
Our delicious delivery from Europe has arrived.
Lots of good stuff.
Sure enough, there's a warning label
about those synthetic dyes on some of the products.
Kool-Aid. Okay.
So this one does have the Allura red,
but also a warning label.
The warning label is in multiple languages,
saying Allura red may affect activity
and attention in children.
The Nerds Gummy Clusters have the dyes and the warning, too.
But for the rest of the snacks, no warning,
because Allura red, Tartrazine, and Sunset Yellow
are nowhere to be found.
None of the synthetic additives in the Skittles.
[instructor] You're gonna wanna bring your hand right up.
Your pointer finger and your thumb are gonna hold the base.
[Rosa]
Let's cut that in half first.
And it's a lot easier to cut.
[Rosa]
I brought a bunch of snacks.
[Rosa]
about the warnings we see.
In the EU, they require warning labels.
Not in Canada.
What do you think about that?
I think the warning labels should be there.
And then it's the choice of the shopper
to pick it up or not.
The more information we have,
the better decisions we can make.
So, why not provide that information?
[Rosa]
about the other snacks from Europe,
that don't have the dyes in them at all?
To me, it's obvious that a decision
can be made to exclude them.
Totally.
Which shows that it's not necessary.
It's shocking, because obviously these companies--
parent companies are global.
Why are they producing, on purpose,
two different sets of products?
Okay.
So, we're gonna do a little experiment here with you.
We're gonna look at these now.
And I want you guys to tell me what you notice
about the differences.
There we go. There's some Doritos.
You got it.
Ooh, look at them flying all over the place.
Oh my God, the colour.
Holy.
Look at the colour difference.
Canadian one.
Canadian.
European.
Canadian, European.
What do you guys see?
This one looks, like, really bland.
But this one looks, like, full of flavour.
I want to taste it.
Okay, here. Take one of each,
and tell me what you notice about them.
[dramatic music plays]
They're better.
Which are better, the European ones?
-The European. -Isn't that interesting.
-They just taste better? -These are better.
Oh.
So, the European ones taste better, two for two.
What do you think?
-European. -Really?
-Oh, wow. -They're more tastier.
Like, even though it doesn't look like it has more,
like, cheese on it, it still, it has more flavour, though.
[dramatic music plays]
[Rosa]
The ones from Canada on the left.
The ones we ordered from Europe on the right.
Health Canada says it's reviewed the research
on the safety of these dyes,
and can't conclude they cause behavioural
problems in kids.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
and the World Health Organization Committee agree.
Health Canada also says that if new scientific information
becomes available that shows an additive is not safe,
they will no longer permit it.
[upbeat music plays]
[Rosa]
-Hello, Professor Khan. -Hello, hi, Rosa.
[Rosa]
Here are the members of my team.
[Rosa]
could have on human cells.
Essentially, we'll just be treating
these cells with the dye.
[Rosa]
We're here at lunchtime.
All right, Rosa, it's time to feed the mice.
Feeding time, okay.
All right, so what I have here is the Allura red
drinking water.
And then in this cage here, you can see
the Allura red-coated food.
[Rosa]
he found eating or drinking Allura red
once a week didn't have an impact.
But ingesting the dye continuously
for several weeks could harm gut health.
It is not beneficial for the health.
You're saying, why take the chance?
Yes, I mean, it's not bad to avoid this food.
I mean, it's not helping us.
[Rosa]
for more research on humans, too.
We have to do some more studies.
[Rosa]
But it's not just warnings.
They've banned one ingredient in Europe
that's still being fed to us.
I think that Canadian consumers
certainly should be protected.
♪ ♪
[Rosa]
[upbeat music plays]
[Rosa]
revealing that warning labels are required in Europe
for certain synthetic food dyes. But not here.
Pass me the flavouring.
[Rosa]
can we make some colourful candies
that don't have these dyes?
At Niagara College, Professor Amy Proulx and her students
are going to create some tasty treats for us
with no synthetic dyes.
Amy, this is my favourite time of day, snack time.
What's on the menu?
They're going to make some gummies,
some lollipops, and some marshmallows.
[Rosa]
So this is a natural colouring agent,
which we added in this one.
This is made of turmeric and sunflower seeds.
[Rosa]
dietitian Alyson Martinez dives into another food additive,
one recently banned from food in the EU
Titanium dioxide.
That's another component that's added to foods,
especially to make them whiter or brighter.
[Rosa]
Sure enough, we find it in many products,
But it's not in the European versions of the same treats.
Why is this on your radar as a dietitian?
So, it's in my radar just because of some of issues
that have been raised in Europe that have to do
with potential health risks of its ingestion.
[Rosa]
we're heading to Parma, Italy.
Well, virtually anyway,
to the European Food Safety Authority,
where we meet with Camilla Smeraldi.
Hi, Camilla.
Rosa from
I'm fine, thank you, Rosa. Good afternoon to you.
[Rosa]
They recently re-evaluated titanium dioxide.
We could not really exclude the possibility
that titanium dioxide can damage the DNA material,
the genetic material in the cells.
[Rosa]
The fact that it has this potential to damage
the DNA material is not something that we should
intentionally add to food.
So these are some foods that we purchased in Canada.
The same foods are available in the EU.
All these Canadian versions have titanium dioxide.
The European versions, of course, do not.
What do you think about that?
Well, I think that there can be alternatives.
As you have seen, we have the same products on the market.
[Rosa]
health authorities here to follow the EU's lead.
We petitioned the FDA to ban titanium dioxide
based on the same evidence that it was banned in the EU.
Do you think Health Canada should ban it as well, then?
Yeah, I think that Canadian consumers certainly
should be protected from titanium dioxide
to the same degree that European consumers currently are.
[Rosa] Back at the cooking class we ask parents
what they think.
What do you think when you hear, it's been banned in the EU,
but it's allowed in our food?
We're no different than people in Europe.
So why is it that we have different
contents of the products?
I think it's a great question for Health Canada.
When it comes to the food additive titanium dioxide
Health Canada tells us there is no conclusive
scientific evidence that it's a concern for human health.
A World Health Organization committee agrees.
In the US, the FDA is currently reviewing
the use of titanium dioxide in foods.
[Rosa]
Everybody has access to the same studies.
How did EFSA and Health Canada come
to two very different conclusions?
Pretty much depends with which pair of eyes
you're looking into that.
Which paper do you consider are relevant or not?
When we're talking about something that has
no nutritional value that we intentionally
add to food, and that's our assessment.
[Rosa]
their scientific opinion could change.
We ask the companies, why include these food additives
in their Canadian products?
The makers of these products do not respond.
The others tell us their products are safe
and comply with all laws and Health Canada regulations.
Some add that Health Canada
and the European Food Safety Authority have not conclusively
found concerns for human health with titanium dioxide.
Food companies do not need to wait for regulations.
I'd like them to make the choice to reformulate their products
to get rid of titanium dioxide and synthetic food dyes and use
better alternatives for the good of public health.
[Rosa] Back at Niagara College,
our synthetic dye free sweets are ready.
Now it's time for the big test.
I want you guys to taste test these for us.
-What do you think, Nara? -It tastes like fruity.
-Yeah, it's actually very good. -It's still good.
I like the lollipop the most.
[Rosa] Would you be disappointed, though,
if you opened the package and it wasn't like,
-these really bright colours? -No.
[Rosa]
Since it all comes down to just one thing.
-The taste. -[Rosa] Taste.
You're gonna have to save room for lunch"?