WIREDGOV

The Agency has updated its list of product ranges that do not contain the six food colours associated with possible hyperactivity in young children.

Another six manufacturers producing product lines free of the colours have been added to the list: Central Foods Ltd, Dorset Cereals Ltd, Kent Frozen Foods, Norvik Foods Ltd, Stream Foods Ltd and The Authentic Food Company Ltd.

The list includes companies whose product ranges have never contained the six colours and companies whose product ranges that have been reformulated to remove the colours. The colours, identified by a Southampton University study financed by the Food Standards Agency, are:

• sunset yellow FCF (E110)
• quinoline yellow (E104)
• carmoisine (E122)
• allura red (E129)
• tartrazine (E102)
• ponceau 4R (E124)

The Agency is publicising the product ranges to encourage the food industry to participate in the voluntary ban. The voluntary ban was agreed by Ministers in November 2008.

Consumers who are particularly concerned about the presence of the colours should continue to check labels, especially in the case of products with a long shelf-life, where the availability of reformulated products may vary.

Any food manufacturer, retailer or caterer wishing to notify the Agency that their brands or products are free of these colours, should email the details to Benedict Duncan, at: benedict.duncan@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk.

The Agency's website will be updated regularly as new information is provided.