CSPI Petitions FDA for Front-Label Disclosure of Artificial Coloring

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require the disclosure of food color additives on front-of-package labeling. Citing “the ubiquity of food colorings” in the American diet, the petition claims that consumers are misled when colorings are used to either mask less-nutritious ingredients or make a product “appear to be of higher quality or nutritional value than it actually is.” The group also points to studies suggesting a link between certain food additives and behavioral effects in children.

CSPI urges FDA to “amend the labeling requirements set forth at 21 C.F.R. § 101.22” to require foods containing such additives to state “Artificially Colored” “on the product display package next to the product name in bold letters not less than half the height and weight of the name of the food.” According to CSPI, FDA already possesses the statutory authority and regulatory framework to make this change, which would “promote public health” and “prevent consumer deception.”

“Betty Crocker is certainly free to make virtually carrotless carrot cake, and
Tropicana is free to make berryless and cherryless juice,” CSPI Executive
Director Michael Jacobson said in a December 8, 2011, press release. “But
consumers shouldn’t have to turn the package over and scrutinize the fine
print to know that the color in what are mostly junk foods comes from cheap
added colorings.”