More junk: Colorless food

The food police agenda does not stop at attacking fast food. Last week we pointed out how the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), hungry for attention once again, petitioned the FDA to ban artificial dyes from food because they assert it exacerbates hyperactivity in some children (thankfully, the FDA denied their petition citing no evidence of this claim). Now, The New York Times’ Gardiner Harris has responded with an article highlighting the importance of food coloring in the sensory aspects of eating. For example, he points out that consumers who eat vanilla-flavored pudding with tasteless yellow coloring added report tasting banana or lemon, but when mango or lemon flavoring is added to white pudding, many still say it tastes like vanilla.

He also quotes New York University professor of nutrition, food studies and public health Marion Nestle, who — despite her credentials and near-ubiquity in the media — seems to be completely tone-deaf (or tone-tasteless) when it comes to the sensory pleasures of eating: “These dyes have no purpose whatsoever other than to sell junk food,” she opines. Really, we say? “She should read the whole story in which she is quoted — or try to eat the grey food she is advocating,” advises ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.

“The studies linking these dyes — which have a proven safety record — with hyperactivity in children are the real junk,” counters ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan.

Thank you, Mr. Harris, for reminding readers that presentation is a very important component in the ability to enjoy food.