Caramel Coloring is a soluble food coloring. It's that simple. Pretty much anything that you eat that is processed and is brown or has brown color marks has it. That cola you are drinking is loaded with it. That gravy in your Hungryman dinner is loaded with it! Those grill marks on the patty in your frozen TV dinner is made with it! Everywhere!
Instead of links I'm just going to provide info source and post clippings. I'll try to keep it organized.
From Wikipedia:
Caramel color is one of the oldest and most widely-used food colorings, and is found in almost every kind of industrially produced food, including: batters, beer, brown bread, buns, chocolate, cookies, cough drops, dark liquor such as brandy, rum, and whisky, chocolate-flavored flour-based confectionery, coatings, custards, decorations, fillings and toppings, potato chips, dessert mixes, doughnuts, fish and shellfish spreads, frozen desserts, fruit preserves, glucose tablets, gravy browning, ice cream, pickles, sauces and dressings, soft drinks (especially colas), sweets, vinegar, and wines.
Production
Caramel color is made by controlled heat treatment of carbohydrates (nutritive sweeteners, which are the monomers glucose and fructoseor their polymers, e.g., glucose syrups, sucrose, invert syrups, and dextrose), generally in the presence of food-grade acids, alkalis, and salts, in a process called caramelization. Antifoaming agents may be used as processing aids during manufacture. Unlike caramel candy, it requires close to maximum oxidation of the sugar to produce a caramel concentrate that has an odor of burnt sugar and a somewhat bitter taste in its raw liquid form. Its color ranges from pale yellow to amber to dark brown.
Caramel color molecules carry either a positive or negative charge depending upon the reactants used in their manufacture. Problems such as precipitation,flocculation or migration can be eliminated with the use of a properly charged caramel color for the intended application. A crude form of caramel color can be made by strongly heating sucrose.
Toxicology
Internationally, JECFA has set the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of Class I caramel color as "not specified"; that of Class II as 0-160 mg/kg body weight; that of Class III as 0-200 mg/kg body weight; and that of Class IV as 0-200 mg/kg body weight.
The United States Food and Drug Administration classifies and regulates caramel color in 21 CFR 73.85 (PDF) as a color additive exempt from certification. Unless a food has a standard of identity, caramel color may be safely used in foods generally at levels consistent with good manufacturing practice.
The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) has concluded that commercially-produced caramel color has the same toxicological properties as caramel produced by cooking or heating sucrose, except for those prepared using ammonium (Class III and IV). The IPCS has not concluded that the caramel exhibits carcinogenicity or mutagenicity, based on its studies.[5] However, the IPCS status report for the product includes says that "Side effects are manifested from the use of E150c and E150d, where intestinal problems may occur after ingestion of large amounts. Due to the complex nature of the mixtures, toxicology tests are still being carried out." California now lists one of its consituent chemicals in the state's list of chemicals known to the state to cause "cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm".[6]
Caramel color has excellent microbiological stability. Since it is manufactured under very high temperature, high acidity, high pressure, and high specific gravity, it is essentially sterile as it will not support microbial growth unless in a dilute solution.
When reacted with sulfites, caramel color may retain traces of sulfite after processing. However, in finished food products, labeling is usually only required for sulfite levels above 10 ppm.
Food Allergies
Caramel coloring may be derived from a variety of source products that are themselves common allergens, such as lactose (from milk), dextrose (usually derived from corn), starch hydrolysates (from corn or wheat), or malt syrup (generally derived from barley). As such, persons with known sensitivities or allergies to food products are advised to avoid foods including generic caramel coloring or first determine the source for the caramel coloring before consuming the food.[7][8]
Only thing here that can explain my reaction to it is some sort of allergy I guess.
From The Center for Science in the Public Interest:
WASHINGTON—The “caramel coloring” used in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other foods is contaminated with two cancer-causing chemicals and should be banned, according to a regulatory petition filed today by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
In contrast to the caramel one might make at home by melting sugar in a saucepan, the artificial brown coloring in colas and some other products is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures. Chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole and 4 methylimidazole, which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia in laboratory mice or rats.
The National Toxicology Program, the division of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences that conducted the animal studies, said that there is “clear evidence” that both 2-MI and 4-MI are animal carcinogens. Chemicals that cause cancer in animals are considered to pose cancer threats to humans. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found significant levels of 4-MI in five brands of cola.
Federal regulations distinguish among four types of caramel coloring, two of which are produced with ammonia and two without it. CSPI wants the Food and Drug Administration to prohibit the two made with ammonia. The type used in colas and other dark soft drinks is known as Caramel IV, or ammonia sulfite process caramel. Caramel III, which is produced with ammonia but not sulfites, is sometimes used in beer, soy sauce, and other foods.
Five prominent experts on animal carcinogenesis, including several who have worked at the National Toxicology Program, joined CSPI in calling on the FDA to bar the use of caramel colorings made with an ammonia process. “The American public should not be exposed to any cancer risk whatsoever as a result of consuming such chemicals, especially when they serve a non-essential, cosmetic purpose,” the scientists wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
To put the risk from caramel coloring in context, CSPI says the ten teaspoons of obesity-causing sugars in a non-diet can of soda presents a greater health risk than the ammonia sulfite process caramel. But the levels of 4-MI in the tested colas still may be causing thousands of cancers in the U.S. population.
Junkscience.com response to the above information: (I can play both sides here I guess)
“CSPI's claim is based on studies in which laboratory rats were given extremely high doses of 2-methylimidazole (2-MI) and 4-methylimidazole (4-MI). But such studies are entirely unreliable indicators of cancer-causing affects in humans, simply because lab rats are not little people…. Moreover, even assuming for the sake of argument that the rat studies were relevant to cancer risk in humans, JunkScience.com calculates that a person would have to consume about 154,000 20-ounce bottles of cola per day to be exposed to the same dose of 4-MI as the lab rats. This is obviously impossible.”
Well, none of this explains why I have this reaction to it. Am I the only one? So I did a Google for people having diarrhea from this ingredient and here is an example:
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04/10/2011
9:58AM
Caramel Coloring is bad and does hurt people. I'm a prime example of it. Depending how much caramel coloring is in the product depends on how bad my reaction is and how sick I get. I can get bad nasty gas for a little caramel coloring, to diarrhea with a moderate amounts, to an asthmatic attack within minutes for large amounts. No wonder I would get sick since a child on certain foods. It was always hard to pinpoint the problem. I knew I have trouble with caffeine since I always got sick drinking cola, having coke syrup or taking medicines with high amounts of caffeine. But while on a food elimination diet to find my daughter's problems, I got sick on two items. The only key ingredient in both was caramel coloring. Since then, when I get sick, if I go back and check the labels, the item always have caramel coloring. We are checking labels since I got sick on vitamins with it in. I wish they would eliminate caramel coloring in items for consumption
I am so tired of going through this. At least I was finally able to narrow it down to one additive. The hard part is shopping with a 3 year old that wont give you the time to read ingredients! I'm just tired of it all.
On a high note, I and my wife had enough points to eat at McDonald's today and look at houses. Nice outing on a beautiful day.
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