Survey of harmful dyes in food color additives in Algeria

Abstract

Food colors are pervasive in our diet. However, some of them are involved in health concerns reaching carcinogenicity and reproductive toxicity. This is a survey of prepackaged color additives marketed to the simple consumer in Algeria. This exploration aimed to assess the compliance of the labeling of color additives, as well as the investigation of the presence of harmful dyes, namely E102, E110, E 121, E122, E123, E124, E127, E129, E132, E133, E143, and E171, in their composition. Our findings reveal the labeling compliance of 50.5% of analyzed coloring products and the absence of ingredient labeling for 1.6% of analyzed coloring products. While 47.8% of the products displayed different labeling flaws. Except for the dyes E121, E129, and E143, the other requested dyes have been determined. In fact, dyes E102 (39%), E110 (23%), and E171 (20%) were the most frequent. Moreover, 32.6% of all analyzed coloring products included two harmful dyes. Surprisingly, almost 3% of all assessed coloring products provided three harmful dyes simultaneously. Taken together, these results encourage further investigations of the presence of harmful dyes in our food and to establish more stringent rules governing the marketing and the use of coloring additives.