Regulating Food Colours and Industrial Dyes in Street Foods

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Key takeaways

The Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011 set a strict upper threshold of 100 mg/kg for permitted synthetic food colours across specified food items.
Regulators permit a higher limit of 200 mg/kg solely for certain specified canned fruit items.
Under the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006, mixing dangerous industrial dyes like Rhodamine-B or Sudan dyes into food products carries severe legal penalties.
The government allows only eight specific synthetic colour formulations in India, outright banning their use in daily cooked dishes like dal, biryani, and curries.

The Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration issued detailed rules to stop the illegal use of toxic industrial dyes in street food.

Food colours include any dye, pigment, or chemical added to food or drinks to add, improve, or restore visual appearance. These substances fall into two main groups: natural colours from plants or minerals like beetroot and turmeric, and synthetic colours made in laboratories that are strictly regulated.

The law strictly bans toxic industrial dyes like Rhodamine-B, Metanil Yellow, Malachite Green, Sudan dyes (I-IV), Butter Yellow, Auramine, and Orange II because they are hazardous adulterants.
Food safety authorities permit only eight specific synthetic colours within strict limits: Tartrazine, Sunset Yellow FCF, Carmoisine, Ponceau 4R, Erythrosine, Brilliant Blue FCF, Fast Green FCF, and Indigo Carmine.

The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 serves as India's main law to penalize the making, selling, and distributing of adulterated food products.
The Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 specify permitted colours, set Good Manufacturing Practices, and establish a maximum limit of 100 mg/kg, which can reach 200 mg/kg for certain canned fruits.

Regulations ban synthetic food colours entirely from daily cooked foods such as dal, biryani, curries, french fries, bread, and chutneys.
Rules strictly forbid artificial colour in unprocessed items like milk, paneer, fresh fruits, vegetables, natural juices, whole spices, pulses, honey, and baby food.
The government allows synthetic food dyes only in designated processed items, keeping them under the general limit of 100 mg/kg without letting other categories use them.
Food makers must use digital precision scales, purchase colours only from licensed producers, maintain valid batch numbers, and keep all bills to ensure traceability.

Banned dyes like Rhodamine-B and Sudan dyes can cause cancer and damage major vital organs like the liver and kidneys.
Even permitted food colours like Tartrazine and Carmoisine can trigger skin hives, severe facial swelling, and asthma attacks in sensitive people.
Children face severe health risks from brightly coloured street foods like cotton candy and ice pops, which can harm their growth and daily behaviour.