more about petrochemicals in food

I came across another article about the dangers of petrochemicals in food which I have linked here. It's a lot of the same information I've posted before, except for oranges. Did you know they sometimes dip oranges in dye to make them look more appealing? It's really sad that salmon and fresh fruit isn't even natural anymore.

dye free frosting and cookies

Well, here is the finished product, ready for tomorrow's party at the preschool. This was the only can of frosting I could find without red#40 and yellow #5 or 6. I'm still hoping that if my kids have good alternatives, they won't feel as tempted to eat all the other stuff with dyes. It's just not worth the tantrums and hyperactivity.

ready for a dye free Halloween (continued)

I baked the sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins. They turned out pretty good, but the frosting, well you get the picture. It's not exactly orange by any stretch of the imagination. I used natural food coloring from the health food store. The yellow was a nice color, so I thought I was doing pretty well. Then I added the red. It didn't even show at first, then it came off as a brownish hue. The more I added, the closer it looked to Dijon mustard. Then just for kicks I added the blue too. It was brown too, but slightly purple since it's blueberry juice. You can sort of see it on the edge of the bowl.

Oh well, plan B is to use the white frosting and just make chocolate chip faces. We'll see how that goes. Maybe I should try to just make pumpkin cookies with real pumpkin. Those would be orange. Maybe I should accept reality that despite my best intentions, at least one of my kids will probably eat something dyed this week at school.

mystery food dyes

Ben came home Friday with a grumpy, defiant attitude that went on and off all weekend. He said that he ate a sugar cookie at school and the teacher and parent must have lied to him about there being food coloring in it. He was quite adamant about it. Unfortunately, I was pretty irritable too. I started tracing back the foods Ben and I both ate. The only thing I could come up with was the salad we had at McDonalds Thursday night. The southwest Salad isn't supposed to have any food coloring, but the Oriental salad grilled chicken glaze has red #40. Maybe it was something else completely. Who knows for sure. It just seemed to have all the same problems. Hopefully it's all worn off by now.

What's in artificial food coloring?

I called the 800 number on the Beef taco Lunchable box today after noticing the cheese contained "artificial coloring". I know, it's "preservative city" in there so I shouldn't even buy that stuff. But since I don't let Ben buy most of the school lunches, sometimes I let him pack a Lunchable. We throw out the red candy that comes with it. I asked the representative for details about what the artificial color was. She left me on hold and came back after a few minutes to say she did not have that information. She asked why I was interested and I explained my kids react to the synthetic, petroleum based dyes like red #40. She assured me that by law the dyes with numbers (red # 40, yellow # 5 and 6, blue #1) must be disclosed on food labeling, so it wasn't that. However, she said since it was not any of those, she had no further information about it and no way that I could find out.

Hmmm. Sounds like yet another example of a company putting extra junk in the food, probably cheaper chemical stuff, that we don't need. I've bought those Lunchables for a while and never noticed that ingredient. I wonder if it's a new thing, or if it's always been in there. Once again, why does cheese need fake color added? Sigh.

getting ready for a dye free Halloween

I'm gearing up for the parties and trying to figure out how to let the kids have fun, without going "off the wagon". I'm sending alternate treats to school for the kids so they don't feel so left out from whatever orange colored pumpkin treat comes in. I have natural food coloring from the health food store that I need to experiment with. I'm hoping to make my own pumpkin shaped sugar cookies and dye my own orange frosting. Then I'll use mini chocolate chips to make the face. My gluten free/dairy free boy will get his GF cookies with the same frosting and organic chips.

Last year I let the kids go trick-or-treating as usual. Then I took all the candy and sorted out the stuff with dye (about 2/3 of it) and sent it to work with my husband. We kept what was left (lots of chocolate and clear stuff) and I still threw some away in December that they never got around to eating.

Lessons learned last year: Butterfinger has yellow dye. Most chocolate products don't have dye. Chocolate Tootsie Roll pops don't have dye, but the rest of the flavors do. Regular tootsie rolls are also dye free. Coconut and Cream Soda Dum Dums don't contain dyes but could have trace amounts from all the other flavors that do. Biggest lesson learned last year: don't save the red licorice and eat it all yourself while the kids are sleeping. I was sooooo grumpy the next morning that Ben actually said, "Mom, are you reacting to red dye?" and I had to admit that I was. What a proud parenting moment that was!

I'll probably get some chocolate candy, hopefully without artificial "vanillin" to swap for some of the colored stuff they get from trick or treat night. I'm also stocked up on Yummy Earth lollipops and Sweet Surf candy to use as trades for stuff they get from school, bus drivers, etc. The deal I have with my kids is that whenever they hang on to a piece of candy (such as given by bus driver) and turn it in to me, I give them 2 of my organic candies as a trade. I throw away the dyed candy. That gives them an incentive to delay the gratification a little more because they get extra. Sure, I spend a little more that way, but when the pay off is 3 kids with self control and stable moods it seems more than worth the extra 5 dollars spent on organics. I also keep candy in my purse so they don't feel like they miss out all the time.

We also have coupons for free Frostys from Wendy's to give out. I checked, the vanilla and chocolate are dye free. My friend had her kids bring back their dyed stuff to the house and she gave it back out to other kids. Feel free to comment if you have other ideas. My friends and I seem to do better when we put our heads together and swap ideas.

writing to more companies

I wrote to Pillsbury this week:

I would like to request that you make products available without artificial food dyes such as red #40, yellow, #5 and yellow # 6. I was stunned to see red#40 listed on the ingredients of Crescent Rolls. My children react severely to any consumption of synthetic food dyes. I do not understand how products such as bread or white frosting require any color in the first place. Please note that consumer preferences are leaning toward more natural products.

This is the response I received:

Thank you for contacting Pillsbury about the use of artificial flavors and colors in our products. Most people would agree that food tastes better if its appearance is pleasing. Because processing or high temperature cooking tends to destroy natural colors, natural or artificial color is added. When natural flavorings are in short supply, artificial flavorings are used. They maintain a stable flavor level during processing and storage of the product. We are researching ways to reduce artificial coloring and still produce an attractive product. We appreciate the opportunity to share this information with you and hope you continue to choose our products.