the European Economic Community code for the chemical
1-(4-sulfo-1-phenylazo)-2-hydroxy-naphtalene-6-sulfonic acid disodium salt
(Food and Drug Administration CFR code 74.706.)
also known as Sunset Yellow FCF.
known in large doses to cause urticaria, bronchoconstriction, and kidney tumors, this chemical is highly valued as a coloring agent in food products, such as the Nestle confectionary Smarties.
Sunset Yellow FCF is a synthetic substance*.
In 2002 the UK's Food Standards Agency took a survey on the levels of coloring in sweets and found the samples of sweets contained levels of E110 & E122 (carmoisine) that were above the legal limits the EU had set out seven years previously in The Colours in Food Regulations 1995.
*although as far as memory permits i recall it being made from E120 Cochineal Beetles - this may have been a previous source before laboratory synthesis was achieved, or i am getting confused by the use of Carmine and Sunset Yellow in the making of Orange Smarties.
note: The Alchemist points out that E120 - "Carmine (the colour in cochineal) is not the same chemical as E110, as far as I can see. carmine is a sugar-flavone, wheras E110 is a napthalene derivative. similar, but not really the same"
Heschelian says "Cochineal is E120 - still used in smarties and a few other red sweets."Hardlinked accordingly.
Parents: don't let your kids get their hands on a copy of E for Additives and find out what sweets are made out of.. or (like me) the impressionable mites will attempt to eat as many beetle-derived foodstuffs as possible.