Is Caramel Colour Found In Foods And Drinks Really Safe?

Last updated on March 24th, 2024 at 08:59 pm

10 minutes read.  

  

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Do you know what caramel is? The next time you buy a drink look for caramel on the ingredients list. Although not all manufacturers that use caramel in their product list it on the label.

Irrespective of the health risk that may occur from caramel colour additives, it has been used in foods and beverages for over 150 years and is globally regulated as a color additive. Are you wondering why?  

Stay with me, in this article I will tell you everything you need to know about caramel colour in a couple of 10 minutes, and you may feel free to skim ahead.

What’s Caramel Colour?

What’s Caramel Colour Made From?

Caramel is a dark brown compound generally manufactured by heating a mixture of glucose syrup, milk, and vegetable fat at a temperature ranging between 118 °C and 130 °C.

It’s commonly added in some processed foods and drinks including some alcohol to make them look dark brown or a touch of brownish black or light brown.

The heating process enhances the browning reaction and regulates the finished product’s moisture content.

Unfortunately, its manufacture can sometimes lead to the formation of a carcinogen called methylimidazole, which was identified as a cancer-causing chemical in 2007.

For the purposes of its Proposition 65 labeling law, America set a daily limit of 29 micrograms per day.

How much cancer might caramel-colored soft drinks be causing? Well nobody knows until the report of the research exposed it.

The approved reactants normally used to promote the colouring (caramelization) process include acids, alkalis, salts, ammonium, and sulfite.

The touch of the brown color of most processed food and drinks including all the brands of Maggi seasoning is the presence of caramel. Get it?

Types of caramel

Here are the four types of caramel colour:

However, there are two categories of raw materials for the manufacturing of this color: carbohydrates and reactants.

1. Class I: E150a

No ammonium or sulfite reactants. Also called caustic or plain caramel color.

2. Class II: E150b

With Sulfite reactant, but no ammonium. Also called caustic sulfite caramel. With sulfite compounds (sulfurous acid, potassium sulfite, potassium bisulfite, sodium sulfite, and sodium bisulfite); no ammonium compounds are used.

3. Class III: E150c

With ammonium reactant, but no sulfite. Also called ammonia caramel. In the presence of ammonium compounds (ammonium hydroxide, ammonium carbonate, ammonium hydrogen carbonate, and ammonium phosphate); no sulfite compounds are used.

4. Class IV: E150d

With both sulfite and ammonia reactants. Also called sulfite ammonia caramel. In the presence of both sulfite and ammonium compounds.

Classification Of Caramel

Caramel colours are also classified into four

The four distinct classes of caramel color are;

  • Plain Caramel,
  • Sulfite Caramel,
  • Ammonia Caramel, and
  • Sulfite Ammonia Caramel

In European caramel colour is known as food additive number E150, with the later “E” meaning Europe.

How To Make Caramel Colour

All four types of caramel color are produced from carefully controlled heat treatment of carbohydrates derived from food substances with or without food-grade reactants. The process is also called caramelization.

What Are The Uses Of Caramel Colour?

Caramel colours are used widely in the Food industry, pharmaceutical industries, and cosmetics industries to impart a color from brown to red into either edible or nonedible products.

What Food Contains Caramel Colour?

The following products (Food, Beverage, Medicine & Cosmetic) that may contain caramel color include:

  • Bakery and Bakery wares (including bread and cake)
  • Beer & Spirit
  • Beverage
  • Alcohol
  • Cosmetics
  • Meat
  • Sauce & seasoning
  • Confectionary
  • Dairy products and analogs 
  • Edible ices
  • Fruits and vegetables
  • Cereals and cereal products
  • Fish and fisheries products’ nutritional uses
  • Ready-to-eat savouries and snacks
  • Desserts
  • Food supplements

Most brown bread and all brown cake you see in the market contain caramel colour hence their brown colour.

Related:

What’s Bromate free bread? (Effect of Bromate on baked goods)

What Medicine Contains Caramel Colour?

Most synthetic medicine that possesses dark brown or light brown to red may contain Caramel as the colouring agent.

Safety Regulation

Is Caramel Colour Regulated?

After the study on genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity and others, EFSA established a group ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) of 300mg/kg body weight/day for four caramel colours (E 150a, E 150b, E 150c, E 150d) and an individual ADI of 100 mg/kg bw/day for E 150c (Class III Ammonia Caramel) due to immune-toxicity of one of its constituent in 2011.

Is Caramel Colour Really Safe For Consumption?

Researchers tested 110 soft drink samples off store shelves in America (California and New York) metropolitan areas, including Connecticut and New Jersey.

None of the carcinogens was found in Sprite, which is what you’d expect since Sprite is colourless (because no colour is added).

Among sodas that are, the highest levels were found in a Goya brand soda, while the lowest levels were found in Coke products, which were about 20 times less than Pepsi products.

Interestingly, California Pepsi was significantly less carcinogenic than New York Pepsi. “This supports the notion that (labeling laws like) Proposition 65, can incentivize manufacturers to reduce foodborne chemical risks”. Get it?

What about other developing countries where some of those things are not even regulated?

To protect consumers around the rest of the country, federal regulations could be a valuable approach to reducing excess cancer risk—but how much cancer are we talking about?

Johns Hopkins researchers calculated the cancer burden, an estimate of the number of lifetime excess cancer cases associated with the consumption of various beverages.

So, at the average U.S. soda intake, with the average levels of carcinogens found, Pepsi may be causing thousands of cancer cases, especially non-California Pepsi products, which appear to be causing 20 times more cancer than Coke.

Of course, there’s no need for any of them to have any of these carcinogens at all “as caramel colorings serve only a cosmetic purpose, and could be omitted from foods and beverages”

But we don’t have to wait for government regulation or corporate social responsibility; we can exercise personal responsibility and just stop drinking any drink with caramel.

Reducing or cutting out on that food may reduce our risk of becoming obese and getting diabetes, getting the fatty liver disease, suffering hip fractures, developing rheumatoid arthritis, developing chronic kidney disease, and maybe developing gout, as well.

In children, daily beverage (soda or you know it)  consumption may increase the odds of asthma five-fold and increase the risk of premature puberty in girls, raising the likelihood they start getting their periods before age 11 by as much as 47 percent.

If you look at the back of people’s eyes, you can measure the caliber of the arteries in their retina, and the narrower they are, the higher the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

Researchers performed these kinds of measurements on thousands of 12-year-olds and asked them about their soda-drinking habits.

Their result thus is; Children who consume soft drinks daily have significantly narrower arteries.

“The message to patients can no longer remain the simplistic mantra ‘eat less, exercise more.’”

It matters what you eat. “Specific dietary advice should be to significantly reduce the consumption of processed food and added sugar and to eat more whole foods.”

What is 4-MEI?

The full name of “4-MEI” is 4-methylimidazole, which is formed as an impurity by the interaction of ammonia with reducing sugars, occurring in the manufacturing of both Class III Ammonia Caramel and Class IV Sulphite Ammonia Caramel.

4-MEI may also form when coffee beans are roasted and when meat is roasted or grilled

Caramel Colour And Cancer

Does Caramel Color Really Cause Cancer?

Based on the National Toxicology Program (NTP) studies, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified 4-MEI as Group 2B, or “possibly carcinogenic to humans”, indicating sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals.

In the 2007 study, lung cancer in male mice and female mice was found with 4-MEI exposure.

Although no direct human data were available yet.

In 2011, California listed 4-MEI as a carcinogen in caramel color under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, which is better known as Proposition 65.

A product sold in California that contains a chemical listed as a carcinogen under Proposition 65 must carry a warning label if exposure to the chemical resulting from the use of the product will exceed a No Significant Risk Level (NSRL).

Are you understanding something here? So you and I have the responsibility to protect our health not really the government or NGO agencies. skim down a bit to know more.

Related: Artificial Food Dye: Are They Harmful to Health?

Related: List of Foods Additives that Promote Cancer

Other Possible Side Effects that May Occur include:

  • Mild diarrhea
  • Reduced body weight gain associated with reduced food and fluid consumption
  • Pigmentation of mesenteric lymph nodes
  • Enlargement of the caecum
  • Reduced urinary output is associated with increases in the specific gravity of the urine
  • Increases in caecal and kidney weights

Alternative Of Caramel Colour

What Are Caramel Color Substitutes?

Firstly it depends on what color you need and the application. And then the preferred natural color or synthesized one or the mixtures.

As Annatto, Beta-carotene, Grape skin extract, Red 40, and Yellow 5 can be replaced which is also used in soft drinks

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is Caramel Colour Allergic?

Studies have shown that caramel coloring cannot be derived from common allergens, such as starch hydrolysates (from wheat), malt syrup (generally derived from barley), or lactose (from milk).

And the manufacturers always have an allergen-free list for the buyers.

Is Caramel Natural Or Artificial?

Although this food color is always claimed as natural as it is derived from ingredients that can be found in nature. But it is not simply called natural.

As known to all, caramel colours are all made from edible nutritive sweeteners, which are heated under controlled conditions and they’re physically and chemically modified after the process.

So it can no longer be considered “natural” according to the definition of nature that the “thing” in question must be occurring in nature or being directly derived from substances occurring in nature.

Also, it is not “artificial” as they are not chemically synthesized.

But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicates that it can be named as artificial color.

The FDA has considered the term “natural” to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color

additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in that food.

Is Caramel Vegan?

Yes, as mentioned above, it is vegan as the raw material used and manufacturing process without the use of animal matter or products derived from animal origin. As a food ingredient, it is considered vegan and vegetarians can eat it.

Is Caramel Halal?

Yes, it is halal and we can find several China manufacturers certificated with MUI halal for classes I, III, and IV.

Is Caramel Kosher?

Yes, it is kosher and we can find some suppliers certificated with pareve.

Is Caramel Gluten free?

Yes, it is gluten-free, or without gluten as comply with the conditions listed by the FDA that it does not contain wheat, rye, barley, or crossbreeds of these grains.

Why do Manufacturers Use Caramel for Coloring?

It improves the appeal of food by imparting a good color. If food looks good, people may try it.

However, caramel adds no additional nutritional value to the product that contains it. They only add it to attract people as human beings are drawn to colour.

Is Caramel Color a Flavor?

No, it is not a fragrance or flavor, it is just a colorant agent. Most of the foods are colored with little caramel, which generally has no significant effect on the flavor of the final product.

Is Caramel Colour A Sugar?

No, it is obtained after heat treatment of sugar.

Does Caramel Color contain Corn?

It does not contain corn but may derive from corn.

Does Caramel Color have Dairy?

No, it does not contain milk or comes from dairy.

Does Caramel Color have Red 40?

No.

Can Caramel Color Be Organic?

Yes, some manufacturers have organic products.

Is Caramel Color the Same As Caramel?

The term “caramel” is often used to describe confections and flavors made from caramelized sugar. And sometimes it refers to a caramel color. The term “caramel color” only describes the color additives.

Conclusion

Caramel is a dark brown compound generally manufactured by heating a mixture of glucose syrup, milk, and vegetable fat at a temperature ranging between 118 °C and 130 °C.

It’s commonly added in some processed foods and drinks, food seasoning, synthetic medicine, including some alcohol to make them look dark brown or a touch of brownish black or light brown to red. However, they do not add any nutritional value to the product.

Caramel colors are used widely in the Food industry, pharmaceutical industries, and cosmetics industries to impart a color from brown to red into either edible or nonedible products.

Unfortunately, its manufacture can sometimes lead to the formation of a carcinogen called methylimidazole, which was identified as a cancer-causing chemical in 2007.

Reducing or cutting out on those products may reduce our risk of becoming obese and getting diabetes, getting a fatty liver disease, suffering hip fractures, developing rheumatoid arthritis, developing chronic kidney disease, and maybe developing gout, as well.

Although caramel is regulated in some parts of the world, you and I have the responsibility to protect our health once you become aware instead of waiting on government or NGO agencies.   

I hope you get the value worth your time, I appreciate the time you spend with me. Leave a comment below if you find this article helpful and don’t forget to drop your question, opinion, or criticism if any. Cheers!

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER

The content provided in Living Good is for informational and educational purposes only. It’s not intended to provide medical advice or take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal doctor. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Living Good Blog takes no responsibility for possible health consequences of any person(s) reading or following the information in this educational content. Viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medication, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.

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