By now most people are aware of the dangers of synthetic food dyes and their link to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). But, for a growing percentage of the population all-natural food color additives are also dangerous. I’m one of those people in the later group. I am severely allergic to the two foods used to create the majority of natural food color additives: carrots and beets.
My carrot allergy didn’t start until I was a teenager, and even then it was somewhat mild. I would have problems breathing if I tried to snack on a raw carrot. It wasn’t hard to avoid carrots, and I wasn’t having a reaction to beets yet. By my early twenties I could only have thoroughly cooked carrots, and my doctor had advised me to stay away from beets since I tested positive for an allergy to them as well. By time I was in my mid-thirties I couldn’t even have cooked carrots. Now, in my forties, I can’t have contact with either without having a reaction. My carrot allergy has digressed from merely severe to fatal. My beet allergy isn’t far behind.
None of us really realize exactly how many foods have colors added to them. We expect food dyes in things like boxed dinners and frozen convenience meals. But, simple foods, things we consider ingredients, also have food colors. Things like garlic salt and canned red sauce.
Combing ingredient lists by habit has saved my life. I already cook for several different food allergies in my immediate family, including milk and eggs. These are things I have gotten used to checking labels for, even if it’s something I’ve purchased before. While scanning ingredient lists for milk or eggs I’ve run across carrot oil, beet juice concentrate, black carrot concentrate, and more. Most of the time they act as food color in things you would never imagine had them.
Carrots are in just about everything. It always surprises people to find out how many things carrots are being added to. Things you would never think of, like yogurt, coffee creamers, and basic canned red sauce. Even most cranberry juice blends use carrot extract as a food color.
The answer is not a return to synthetic food colorings, however. Even though my carrot allergy is that severe I don’t promote a return to the use of synthetic additives. They cause too many health problems. But, I would like to see all food color additives removed from foods where they are not actually needed. In red cake frosting they are needed and make sense. But in coffee creamer? Come on!
In the meantime, I have to make even the simplest foods and spice blends myself, or go without. This year, after my favorite brand of garlic salt began adding carrot oil for that pretty warm look, I learned how to make it from scratch, using only freshly harvested garlic and kosher salt. I also started making and canning red sauce by the quart-case-lot to replace basic red sauces from the store. The lists of foods I can buy from a store is growing shorter and shorter.
I am one of the lucky ones, however. I live on a farm, so I have the luxury of growing whatever I need and controlling my food from seed to plate. It takes a long time and a lot of work, but my life depends on it. Others with the same carrot allergy may not be so lucky.
We need to stop using unnecessary additives in the first place. Food manufacturers add things like carrots, beets, corn, and more simply to make their products more attractive to consumers. Replacing them with another natural food color source or thickener will only create a problem for someone else. For as many foods as there are in the world there are people who are going to be allergic to them.
The answer is not to replace them. The answer is to not use them at all. Removing unnecessary additives from foods is something most people would agree with. It’s time the big food manufacturers caught up with what people want and actually expect.
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