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Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

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Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#51

Post by rootusrootus »

pfexec wrote: post #37
fabian2k wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many artificial food dyes have been actually banned? I mean in the time where we actually had some regulations, the old days were quite wild in terms of safety in all areas, so I don't think that would be a useful comparison.

I'm in awe at the number of people that will go to bat for things like artificial dyes in food, only because the policy is coming from the present administration. It's just common sense. We don't need to be ingesting this shit. It's cosmetic and not needed for nutrition. Why are you feeding your child Fruit Loops and not Cheerios? I personally have known people who develop migraines after eating food with artificial…

> I personally have known people who develop migraines after eating food with artificial dyes

Yeah, my mom was the same way when she had food with MSG in it. But only when she knew there was MSG in it.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#52

Post by cadamsdotcom »

We are exposed to so much anti-customer behavior thanks to HN. But this move is a shining example of alignment between customers and a commercial entity.

Businesses doing things in line with customer preferences is exciting to see.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#53

Post by pfexec »

fabian2k wrote: post #46
pfexec wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in awe at the number of people that will go to bat for things like artificial dyes in food, only because the policy is coming from the present administration. It's just common sense. We don't need to be ingesting this shit. It's cosmetic and not needed for nutrition. Why are you feeding your child Fruit Loops and not Cheerios? I personally have known people who develop migraines after eating food with artificial…

I want these decisions to be bases on scientific and medical data, not on gut feeling or unfounded personal belief. I have no issue with regulating specific dyes or additives in food, or groups of related chemicals. And your anecdote is not scientific data. You cannot draw any conclusions from that.

[flagged]

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#54

Post by jabroni_salad »

themafia wrote: post #8
fabian2k wrote: post #5

My understanding is that there are somewhat more restrictive regulations on food dyes in the EU compared to the US. But that overall there isn't a big concern about the majority of these dyes. There also isn't a fundamental difference between a synthetic and a natural dye. Okay, humans are more likely to have encountered a natural dye during their evolution and adapted to ingesting them. But that is unlikely to matte…

> It makes sense to evaluate the health effects of individual dyes I wonder if changing the color of food is actually that important.

I was looking at this paper which seems to have a bunch of citations. Different colors are associated with different flavors in certain countries.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13411-015-0031-3#...

But yes I think the food color is ultimately important to succeeding in the marketplace and we aren't going to be getting rid of food dyes in manufactured food anytime soon.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#56

Post by brynet »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #43
brynet wrote: post #29

I participated in some consumer testing when Kellogg's Canada was switching their breakfast cereals to natural colours. Beyond some muted colours, the cereal tasted exactly the same. Seemed like a no brainer, really.

IIRC they switched to natural dyes in 2017, but sales fell because average people are "shiny object" driven. So they reverted it.

Not that I'm aware of.. The product I tested was after 2017 is still advertised here in Canada with natural colours, made with fruit juices.

The US parent company is also committing to it as well.

https://www.wkkellogg.com/our-impact/make-eating-well-easy/q...

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#57

Post by KolibriFly »

fabian2k wrote: post #5

My understanding is that there are somewhat more restrictive regulations on food dyes in the EU compared to the US. But that overall there isn't a big concern about the majority of these dyes. There also isn't a fundamental difference between a synthetic and a natural dye. Okay, humans are more likely to have encountered a natural dye during their evolution and adapted to ingesting them. But that is unlikely to matte…

I think Walmart's move probably isn't about toxicology as much as it is about consumer perception

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#58

Post by dlivingston »

psunavy03 wrote: post #10
fabian2k wrote: post #5

My understanding is that there are somewhat more restrictive regulations on food dyes in the EU compared to the US. But that overall there isn't a big concern about the majority of these dyes. There also isn't a fundamental difference between a synthetic and a natural dye. Okay, humans are more likely to have encountered a natural dye during their evolution and adapted to ingesting them. But that is unlikely to matte…

But this is likely also an attempt to market to people who think things like "but I don't want to be exposed to chemicals" while not realizing water is a chemical.

Very funny, but also flippant and glib.

When people -- myself included -- say they have a problem with chemicals in food, they of course mean artificial chemicals: that is, compounds, preservatives, dyes, and flavors that are non-naturally present for that particular food item and were added for their shelf life, taste, aesthetic, or addictive properties.

Next time you visit your grocery store, go read the ingredients list of a few different boxed and frozen items. It's not uncommon to see three- or four- dozen ingredients on items that should have less than 10.

While all of these compounds may have FDA approval and studies verifying their safety for ingestion, please keep several things in mind:

1. Studies use large, population-based sample sizes and their effects are based on their statistical significance on these populations. In other words, "side effects" are a population-level phenomenon, not an individual phenomenon. It is plausible that individual side effects are hidden as statistical noise. This is a problem with pharmacological studies as well and there is no easy solution to it AFAIK.

2. We have a massive obesity crisis in this country (and increasingly globally). Sedentary lifestyles and increased caloric intake is no doubt part of this, but it is blindingly obvious (to me, at least) that the meat of the problem is environmental, primarily diets, and these compounds are wreaking havoc on the endocrine systems of the population causing a massive uptick in obesity and diabetes.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#59

Post by dboreham »

fabian2k wrote: post #5

My understanding is that there are somewhat more restrictive regulations on food dyes in the EU compared to the US. But that overall there isn't a big concern about the majority of these dyes. There also isn't a fundamental difference between a synthetic and a natural dye. Okay, humans are more likely to have encountered a natural dye during their evolution and adapted to ingesting them. But that is unlikely to matte…

As someone who has an allergic reaction to one of these dyes, I support their banning.

I'm allergic to Yellow #5 (Tartrazine), but not to Tumeric which seems to do just as good as job of making things yellow/orange.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#60

Post by watwut »

infecto wrote: post #30
fabian2k wrote: post #5

My understanding is that there are somewhat more restrictive regulations on food dyes in the EU compared to the US. But that overall there isn't a big concern about the majority of these dyes. There also isn't a fundamental difference between a synthetic and a natural dye. Okay, humans are more likely to have encountered a natural dye during their evolution and adapted to ingesting them. But that is unlikely to matte…

I could not find my reference but I thought it was something more along the lines that either they don’t need to be disclosed in the EU or they go under different safer sounding names.

They are under Exxx codes. Not even safer sounding they are just listed by their technical codes.
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