I don’t think my children are “allergic” to food coloring, but they both become demon possessed if a jelly bean slips by my radar!
Samuel and Aram clearly do not share genetic makeup, but they both react exactly the same when given any sort of small amount of food coloring.
I am careful with what they eat, but I don’t overreact if we have a birthday party with a food-coloring laden cake…or if they occasionally are offered something like jelly beans.
Seriously, I see a difference. This stuff is not good. Why is it allowed in food? Why does food need to be bright hues or blue, red, purple…whatever? If someone living 1000 years ago saw a bright blue muffin they would probably avoid eating it.
So that is my rant… I seriously am ready to go protest at the food dye plant, the White House, or wherever you do protesting.
I think whoever is putting this in food should be forced to babysit children who have just consumed it.
Ditto! You might want to join the Environmental Working Group site and get their emails.
I’m actually highly sensitive to red food dye… I break out in a bad rash. My traditional birthday cake is a to-die-for red velvet cake and I can’t make it with food coloring anymore so it turns out an ugly beige because the beet dye I’ve used doesn’t work in baking — only for stuff like frosting, etc. So, I’m still on the hunt for how to make the cake more inviting.
Oh, I’m going to join!
Are you going to try to find a beet dye for baking? I know they have them! However, I’ve never used it in baking!
Yeah, so far the beet dyes for baking I’ve tried just haven’t worked in cakes.
You ask some very good questions! I, too, think we’d all be so much better off if they were banned or at least carried a warning label as is done in the UK.
A good resource for parents is the Feingold Association. The video at http://www.feingold.org is worth everyone’s time.
Food coloring is great, though, for dyeing wool. Too toxic to eat, but not too toxic for that.
Love this! When I was a kid, my mom told my elementary school that I was allergic to red dye so that I wouldn’t be allowed to drink that cheap red fruit punch served at parties. I didn’t know the truth until I was in college! Apparently I’m not allergic, just acted like a little spaz after having a glass. She was ahead of the game in the ’80s and realized that food dye could not be good for you.
Now that I’m a mom, I might just steal a few of her tricks when my daughter is a little older.
Hey I’m totally feeling this! I have one child that could suck the dye from the bottle and it doesn’t phase her (not that I would let her!!) and another that can’t take even the smallest doses. A jellybean would send her into a tailspin for 3-4 days. It’s bad enough that she, at 6 years old, will stay away from dyes. I just tell everybody she’s allergic bc I don’t want to explain the whole demon spawn story.