Publication:

Food colouring additives in selected confectioneries in Khartoum state, Sudan

Background The natural food colours extracted from plants are used to dye different foods do not change their properties when they are used. Therefore, most synthetic coloured additives are carcinogenic, teratogenic and cause impairment of vision, tooth decay. The aim of the study was to determine food colouring additives in confectioneries.

Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed and confectioneries samples include Cane, Ice-cream and Lollipop was randomly collected from venders around schools, transport stations and other places in Khartoum state through (May - June / 2014). E-number and types of colouring agents was carried by using planar chromatography technique and questionnaire data were analyzed using (SPSS) software.

Results The majority of participants 80.8% know that food colouring additives are harmful. The food colouring additives can cause cancer 32.6%, intestinal pain 9.8%, allergy 9.1% and hyperactivity 3.3%. Most food colouring agents were bought from local source 65.7% while 34.3% was imported. About 69.5% of the participants determined the quantity of food colouring agents according to the degree of the colour they required while 30.5% determined according to the weight of food stuff, and 76.2% mentioned that they usually do not abide to written dates on the pack of the food colouring additive and 60% of the samples contain the permitted synthetic food colouring additives.

Conclusions The majority of participants knew that food colouring additives are harmful, all confectioneries samples contained synthetic food colouring additives that have adverse effect on human health, strict preventive measures and health education are highly recommended.