Food dyes: No names on Canadian labels, yet
In Canada, food labels do not have to list artificial colours by name. In 2010 Health Canada proposed to change that.
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On Canadian food labels, manufacturers are currently not required to list the names of dyes. They have the choice of declaring the name or simply stating the generic term “colour.”
Health Canada is in the process of changing the regulation so that the names will appear, but it cannot predict when that will happen.
“The word ‘colour’ is easy to miss on a package,” says holistic nutritionist Andrea Donsky, “and if you do see the word, you don’t know if the package has one dye or 10. Consumers need to know.”
In the U.S., the names of the food dyes must appear on the package’s ingredient list. In the European Union, the names of the dyes or their additive numbers must be listed. For several dyes, including the popular sunset yellow, allura red and tartrazine, there must also be a warning about possible adverse effects on activity and attention in children.
In February 2010, Health Canada proposed the listing of dyes by name, prompted by studies suggesting a link to behavioural effects on children. Health Canada had also received anecdotal reports of these reactions and requests to improve the labelling.
In 2011, Health Canada reported on its website that it received more than 130 responses from consumers, health professionals, food industry members and others, the majority supporting its proposed labelling change.
Rita Banach, president of Thyroid Cancer Canada, was one of those supporters. Thyroid cancer patients need to know if their food includes the synthetic red dye erythrosine, which contains iodine, she says.
Patients must eliminate iodine from their diets for two weeks before receiving radioactive iodine treatment. Otherwise they could jeopardize the treatment, says Banach.
“If you consume this red dye it throws your diet out the window,” she explains. “This is an extremely important issue.”
An estimated 6,000 new thyroid cancer cases will be diagnosed this year, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. The incidence of thyroid cancer is one of the fastest rising of all major cancers.
Banach has not heard from Health Canada about the status of the labelling change.
Health Canada responded by email to the Star that the proposal was still in process. Once proposed amendments are drafted and approved, they must be published in the Canada Gazette, the official government newspaper, for public consultation.
So when can consumers expect the labelling change?
“It’s too early to speculate on a timetable,” says spokesman Sean Upton.
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