Mandy Sacher has warned parents that the nostalgic treat of white bread with butter and rainbow hundreds and thousands is made with “harmful” artificial colours.
“The truth is, many of the traditional hundreds and thousands we grew up with that can still be found on supermarket shelves contain artificial colours like Amaranth (123) and Tartrazine (102) – dyes that have been banned in the United States and carry warnings in Europe for their potential health risks,” Sacher wrote in an opinion piece for Kidspot.
Sacher goes on to claim Amaranth (123) is banned in the US for its “links to cancer and behavioural issues” yet is still used to colour hundreds and thousands in Australia.
On the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) website, FSANZ states that since the US terminated the provisional listing for the colour Amaranth for use in food in 1977, EFSA and JECFA have both assessed more recent studies and concluded that Amaranth is not carcinogenic.
Sacher does not believe kids should go without fairy bread altogether but instead suggests swapping white bread for sourdough or wholemeal, using unsalted butter instead of margarine, and using sprinkles made without artificial colours.
