Associated Press
[ Source: AP ]
You know you’ve said it. We all have. “Mmm, that looks so delicious — I want to try some!” That’s because when it comes to what we eat, it’s not just a matter of taste.
What foods and drinks look like — the colors we see before the first morsels or sips hit our tastebuds — have mattered to people for millennia.
Nowhere has that been more blatant than the American food palate, where the visual spectrum we choose from includes not only the primary colors but artificial ones that nature couldn’t even dream up.
For well over a century, food manufacturers in the United States have used synthetic dyes in their products as part of their production and marketing efforts.
Often, it’s been in hopes of making a mass-produced food look as fresh and natural as possible, reminiscent of the raw ingredients used in its production. In other cases, it’s been about making an item look interesting or distinctive from competitors, like candies or desserts in an electric blue or neon pink. Think “blue raspberry Slurpee” or “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”
