More firms make FSA Southampton-free list
The UK’s Food Standards Agency has added to its listing of companies that do not use the Southampton-six colours, including Cool Drinks company, Lakeland, Montgomeryshire Natural Spring Water products, Plas Farm Ltd, Rubicon Drinks, and Sunny Delight Beverage Company.
The colours were linked by a study at Southampton University, published in The Lancet in 2007, to hyperactivity in children. The colours are: sunset yellow FCF (E110); quinoline yellow (E104); carmoisine (E122); allura red (E129); tartrazine (E102); ponceau 4R (E124).
Although the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) did not find evidence from the study to change intake advice, UK ministers agreed to a voluntary ban on the colours’ use in that country. The FSA is seeking to encourage participation by industry by publishing the identity of companies that have either reformulated products or have never use the colours at all.
Its list can be found here.
