WASHINGTON — A food advisory committee within the Food and Drug Administration will discuss whether available relevant data demonstrate a link between children’s consumption of synthetic color additives in food and adverse effects on behavior in a public meeting scheduled for March 30-31, 2011, according to a Dec. 1 listing in the Federal Register. Interested persons may present data, information or views, orally or in writing.
The issue of synthetic color additive effects arose in 2007 when a study at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom linked certain mixtures of colors and the preservative sodium benzoate with hyperactivity in children. The European Food Safety Authority in November of 2009 lowered the acceptable daily intakes for the artificial colors quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow FCF (E110) and ponceau 4R (E124).