One in five packaged foods and drinks sold in the US contains synthetic dyes, study shows

As many as 19% of packaged foods and beverages sold by top US food manufacturers contain synthetic food dyes, according to new research evaluating the content of 39,763 American grocery store products.

The findings of the study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics demonstrate the widespread prevalence of synthetic dyes in US foods and beverages, especially those marketed to children, and can help inform policymakers interested in taking legislative or regulatory action.

Food colors are an additive class used in packaged foods and beverages to increase visual attractiveness or to compensate for natural variations in product color. They can be derived from natural sources or chemically synthesized. Research over the past 40+ years has raised questions around the safety of one subcategory of food color additives used in the United States: synthetic food dyes.

Lead investigator Elizabeth Dunford, Ph.D., Department of Nutrition, Gillings Global School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Food Policy Division, The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, says, “We assessed ingredient data for packaged foods and beverages produced by the top 25 US food manufacturers.

“A strength of our study is the use of Label Insight’s large database, which represents more than 80% of products sold in the US. We included sales data in our analysis of synthetic dye exposure, which may help to inform regulatory policies in this area.

“Although certain food categories may contain more products with synthetic dyes, it is also important to consider what foods consumers are buying, as even food categories with smaller proportions of synthetic dyes may be purchased and consumed in significant amounts and thus contribute more to the overall dietary intake of dyes.”

Across all products, synthetic dyes were most commonly seen in sports drinks, beverage concentrates, and confectionery, although carbonated beverages contributed the largest proportion of purchased products containing synthetic dyes. The most common dye was Red 40, which was present in 14% of all products.

Dr. Dunford notes, “Products containing synthetic dyes also had a much higher average total sugar content compared to products without synthetic dyes, suggesting that companies are using synthetic food dyes to market sweet foods and beverages.”

Products in the top five food categories most often marketed to children—confectionery, sugar-sweetened beverages, ready meals, breakfast cereals, and baked goods like cakes, cookies, and pastries—were more likely to contain synthetic dyes.

They were found to be present in 28% compared to just 11% of those in the remaining categories. In addition, the average sugar content of products containing synthetic dyes was 141% more than in those without the dyes (33.3 g/100 g versus 13.8 g/100 g).

Co-investigator Thomas Galligan, Ph.D., Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, DC, concludes, “There are a number of policy options to limit dye exposure, including bans and warning labels.

“Companies can also voluntarily reduce the use of synthetic dyes in their products; our results, showing a range in companies’ proportional use of dyes in many food categories, suggests that reduction in use is readily feasible.”