"Colorful" Foods Have Many Harmful Effects
Many brightly colored children's foods in stores today are highly tempting for children. However, beneath their beautiful appearances, these "colorful" foods may contain non-edible colorings, excessive colorings, and preservatives, and overconsumption of these foods can pose a threat to children's health. Experts from the Heilongjiang Provincial Food and Drug Administration explain that first, these brightly colored "colorful" foods generally require the addition of natural or artificial synthetic colorings. Natural colorings are extracted from plants, are more expensive, and have poor coloring power, so some manufacturers are unwilling to use them. Artificial synthetic colorings, on the other hand, are derived from petroleum or coal tar, and during the refining process, substances such as aniline, arsenic, and mercury can be mixed in. These substances have varying degrees of toxicity and can harm human health. Secondly, some unscrupulous manufacturers, in pursuit of profit, will stop at nothing, violating national regulations by blindly using non-edible artificial synthetic colorings in these "colorful" foods, with some contents exceeding national standards; there are even unscrupulous vendors who add paint to food, or use pigments washed from colored paper or industrial dyes to color food, which poses an even greater danger to children's health.
Therefore, experts remind all parents that to ensure their children's health, they should try to eat fewer "colorful" foods, and even more so, avoid buying low-quality "colorful" foods from small vendors or street stalls.