Caramel Color Additives Are Generally Safe, EFSA Panel Says

A food additives committee of the European Food Safety Authority has issued a scientific opinion stating that caramel colors added to foods in the European Union are neither genotoxic nor carcinogenic, nor is there any evidence they harm human reproduction or the developing child. The Panel on Food Additives, which also looked at the safety of by-products resulting from production of the caramel colors, urged that their levels be kept as low as technologically possible. The Panel set an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for the colors at 300 mg per kg body weight per day, but a more restrictive ADI of 100 mg/kg bw/day for caramel E150c because of “uncertainties related to possible effects on the immune system …”