The “caramel coloring” used in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other foods is contaminated with two cancer-causing chemicals and should be banned, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a public health non-profit. 

In contrast to the caramel one might make at home by melting sugar in a saucepan, the artificial brown coloring in colas and some other products is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures. Chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole and 4‑methylimidazole, which in government studies caused lung, liver, and thyroid cancer and leukemia in laboratory mice and rats.

 Chemicals that cause cancer in animals are considered to pose cancer threats to humans. 

“Carcinogenic colorings have no place in the food supply, especially considering that their only function is a cosmetic one,” said CSPI executive director, Michael F. Jacobson. “The FDA should act quickly to revoke its approval of caramel colorings made with ammonia.”

Federal regulations distinguish among four types of caramel coloring, two of which are produced with ammonia and two which aren’t. CSPI wants the FDA to prohibit the two made with ammonia. One ammonia-based type is frequently used in colas and other dark soft drinks and is known as Caramel IV, or ammonia sulfite process caramel. Caramel III, which is produced with ammonia but not sulfites, is sometimes used in beer, soy sauce, and other foods.

Please urge the FDA to ban the use of caramel coloring.