# Food coloring... is it safe?



## Corvus (Feb 13, 2003)

My dd's birthday is coming up in a couple months. Today I bought a Wilton cake pan, and the design of course includes a few different frosting colors.

Are all food colorings dangerous, or are some really truly safe to eat? I mean, I know if I asked this question on a mainstream board, everyone would chime in and say, "Of course food coloring is safe, it's made for food bla bla bla." But aren't some food dyes known to be carcinogenic? Is it some or all? Is McCormick's food coloring safe?

Please help. My daughter will love this cake design, but I don't want to use any toxic ingredients.


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## 2tadpoles (Aug 8, 2004)

If you are very concerned, and if your colors don't have to be super-bright, you can use the natural food coloring gel made by Dancing Deer.

Food Gels

They're out of stock right now, but you say you have a couple of months to go. They sell them elsewhere, too, but I can't find any in stock anywhere. The company has a hard time keeping up with demand (especially near Halloween).

I have McCormick food dyes in my house. We use them for crafts, but not for food. The dyes are all approved by the FDA, but that doesn't mean anything in my book. The food colorings also contain propylene glycol (used in anti-freeze) and a preservative called propylparaben, which, like all the parabens, can cause skin irritation and hormone disruption. I looked up propylparaben on Google and found a Material Safety Data Sheet page....the first warning was "harmful if swallowed."


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## PikkuMyy (Mar 26, 2004)

If you have a Whole Foods near you, they have a set of food coloring jars in the baking section made with all natural dyes. No artificial colors or polyparaben, etc.


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## Velveteen (Aug 15, 2002)

As a Feingold diet person, any artificial dyes are strictly off limits. Although I have only one son who needs to follow the diet, we all stay away from artificial color, its so much healthier!


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## samrolley (9 mo ago)

Corvus said:


> My dd's birthday is coming up in a couple months. Today I bought a Wilton cake pan, and the design of course includes a few different frosting colors.
> 
> Are all food colorings dangerous, or are some really truly safe to eat? I mean, I know if I asked this question on a mainstream board, everyone would chime in and say, "Of course food coloring is safe, it's made for food bla bla bla." But aren't some food dyes known to be carcinogenic? Is it some or all? Is McCormick's food coloring safe?
> 
> Please help. My daughter will love this cake design, but I don't want to use any toxic ingredients.


If you need to use pretty, vibrant colors or glitter or luster dust for desserts or baking designs, the products on The Sugar Art, Inc. - Making Your Day More Colorful! are vegan, lactose free, nut free, gluten free, 100% edible, FDA approved and Kosher certified! It doesn't get any better than that when it comes to food color, mamas! Hope this helps you with future birthdays for dd!


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## BTL1904 (8 mo ago)

Sugarflair paste colours are my top choice because they are concentrated, and just a little goes a long way; they are also commonly available and stocked by many distributors. I use a cocktail stick to add the paste colours in small amounts, then knead it into the sugar paste... My hands are usually red or green. I have not tried the gel colours yet, but I was looking for them.


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