Why is Karnataka going after artificial food colours?

Brut India

Kebabs, fish and some vegetarian dishes in Karnataka might look a bit different now because…

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00:00Where does the colour in food such as kebabs and fish come from and why is the Karnataka

00:05government banning it?

00:06After 8 out of 39 kebab samples were found to have harmful colouring agents in them,

00:12the Karnataka government banned these colours on 24th June 2024.

00:16Anyone who violates this ban would face a jail term of 7 years and a fine of up to Rs

00:2110 lakh.

00:22Sunset Yellow and Carmozine were the colours that this government found harmful and in

00:26violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006.

00:30While Sunset Yellow is banned in countries such as Finland, Norway and the US, Carmozine

00:36is banned in Norway, the US and Japan.

00:39Sunset Yellow, which is an orange-yellow colour, is found in canned fruit, baked food items,

00:44sauces and candies.

00:46And Carmozine is a red dye.

00:49While food dyes were first extracted from coal tar long, long ago, they are now sourced

00:53from petroleum and often found to be toxic for the body.

00:57Nutritionist Kavita Devgan told the Indian Express that when artificially coloured foods

01:01get reheated, they become more toxic.

01:04Some side effects of Sunset Yellow were nausea, hives, runny nose and nasal congestion.

01:10And Carmozine caused side effects such as hives, breathing difficulties and asthmatics

01:15and skin swelling.

01:16This was not the first time the Karnataka government was coming down hard on artificial

01:20food colours.

01:21In March 2024, the state government banned artificial colouring agents in Gobi Manchurian

01:26and Cotton Candy.

01:28Samples of these two popular food items were collected by the Public Health Department

01:32and laboratory tests revealed the presence of harmful colouring agents like Rhodamine

01:36B.

01:37Out of 25 Cotton Candy samples, 15 were found to contain Sunset Yellow, Tartrazine and Rhodamine

01:44B.

01:45Rhodamine B is a toxic industrial dye used for artificial food colouring and has been

01:50linked to cancer.

01:51Rhodamine B is a carcinogenic material and can cause various health problems if consumed

01:58extensively.

01:59Similarly, among the 171 Gobi Manchurian samples analysed, 107 contained Tartrazine, Sunset

02:07Yellow and Carmozine.

02:08While Tartrazine is an approved food colourant, it is only allowed in certain packaged foods

02:14and not in freshly prepared dishes like Gobi Manchurian, according to State Health Minister

02:19Dinesh Gundurao.

02:20See this Tartrazine which is there, this also cannot be used in prepared foods.

02:28In February, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh had also imposed bans on Cotton Candy.

02:34Health is connected to food because eating good quality food definitely has a good impact

02:41on health and eating bad quality food has a bad impact on health.

02:45And especially chemicals which are carcinogenic and can cause various problems to our organs,

02:54that is completely against the law.

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