Citing potential health concerns stemming from the use of additives, two North Carolina moms, both food bloggers, have started a Change.org petition requesting Kraft Inc., Glenview, IL, take yellow dye 5 and yellow dye 6 out of its Mac and Cheese.
Lisa Leake and Vani Hari compared the U.S. version with a similar Kraft food product sold in the United Kingdom, where due to a different set of regulations regarding additives, the product utilizes beta carotene and paprika for coloration instead of yellow dyes.
Leake and Hari say the dyes used in the U.S. serve “aesthetic purposes" only.
On Thursday afternoon the petition had garnered more than 55,000 signatures.
Kraft spokesperson Lynne Galia responded to the story on ABCNEWS.com saying in an email to the news bureau: “The safety and quality of our products is our highest priority and we take consumer concerns very seriously."
She continued, “We carefully follow the laws and regulations in the countries where our products are sold," She mentioned the company uses colors approved and deemed safe for food use by the Food and Drug Administration. And Galia pointed out the company sells at least 14 other Mac & Cheese products in the U.S. utilizing natural food colors or without added synthetic color.
The petition states the yellow dyes in question have been banned in countries like Norway and Austria and are being phased out in the United Kingdom. On a YouTube video the moms recorded the two state concerns over possible health risks caused by additives such as cancer, hyperactivity, asthma or migraines. “We think we deserve the same version (of Mac & Cheese) our friends in the UK get," says Leake.
Hari stated she and Leake were inspired by a teenager Sarah Kavanagh’s Change.org petition asking PepsiCo to stop using brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in its Gatorade.
BVO, used to prevent some flavors of the drink from separating, has been associated with possible neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones. It has been banned in some other countries. That petition attracted more than 200,000 backers and last month PepsiCo announced it would remove the ingredient, saying its decision wasn’t linked to Kavanagh’s petition.
