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Nowadays, a video is becoming increasingly viral on social media, which has created deep concern in the minds of people about the safety of packaged food products. In this video a person is washing black gram (chickpeas). When he washes the gram, yellow color is seen dissolving in the water. Everyone is surprised to see whether so many harmful colors are being added to our everyday packaged food? This video was shared on May 26 on a page named Unfiltered.haribros. The person told that he had purchased these Whole Farm Roasted Grams from Blinkit Quick-Commerce Company.

Tagging Blinkit, he wrote in the caption accompanying the video, ‘@BlinkitStores, please do a thorough quality check before listing the product on your platform. Otherwise people will stop trusting you. Millions of people watched this video. On Instagram, users raised questions on the quality of packaged products available in the market. The most surprising thing was to see the packaging label, in which there was no mention of any kind of color. This clearly shows that companies often do not provide complete information on the label to mislead consumers.

What are the harmful effects of food colors?

According to experts, food colors added to the products consumed daily can be harmful for both children and adults. Regular use of these colors can cause many problems in children. As:

being too active (hyperactivity)

inability to concentrate (adhd)

aggressive behavior

Apart from these, complaints of allergy and hypersensitivity are also common. This can cause problems like skin rashes, itching, difficulty in breathing. Some people even have stomach problems like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The most serious thing is that some food colors (like Red 3) have been found to cause cancer in tests conducted on animals, meaning their long-term use can be very dangerous for health.

Does washing remove color?

Like the method shown in the video, many people think that washing things thoroughly will remove all the color. But experts say that this is not completely correct. Washing only removes the color or dye applied on the top surface. Water soluble colors like Red 40 and Tartrazine get absorbed into the food. Once they get mixed with food and get deposited, it is very difficult to remove them completely by washing. Only strong chemicals such as bleach (sodium hypochlorite) can break the bonds of these colors, but they are not safe for household use.

What precautions should be taken?

Consumers should read the label of every packaged product carefully.

Check the list of artificial colors used in it

Report suspicious products to relevant food safety agencies

Eat fresh and home-made food as much as possible