Food Colours

Food colour can be divided into two groups: natural colours extracted from plants or animals (such as curcumin (100), carotene (160a) and beet red (162) or artificial colours such as Sunset Yellow FCF (110) and Brilliant Blue FCF (133). Some people are sensitive to azo dyes and coal tar dyes and must check labels carefully before consuming foods containing these colours.

It can be argued that food colours are unnecessary, cosmetic additions to food. Whether the aim to make food more appealing is warranted or otherwise, fortunately, the list of permitted colours in Australia and New Zealand is more restricted than overseas.