12-5+Erythrosine+'the+issue'



What is Erythrosine? Erythrosine, or also known as 2-(6-hydroxy-2,4,5,7-tetraiodo-  3-oxo-xanthen-9-yl)benzoic acid, is one from many synthetic food-dye (synthetic food colorizer). I bet all of you already know what is food colorizer, right?

Food colorizer is any substance, liquid or powder, that is added to food, drink, and any other products to make a better apparance. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking. Producents of food add some coloring agent in their products to give better apparance, color, and make the consumer will choose their products better than other. The synthetic food colorizer is obtained by extraction procedure from chemistry substance. It is also used as printing inks, as a biological stain, and as a dental plaque disclosing.

 Erythrosine is something like that, a synthetic food colorizer. There are two sets of thought when it comes to erythrosine : it should be used or it should not be used. People who claim that erythrosine is beneficial say that it colors items better than other red dyes. Each country is handling the dye in a different manner. In Australia and New Zealand, the chemical traditionally was only used in preserved cherries; however, there was a large push to allow its use in candies and cookies. But here, in our country, Indonesia, a lot of products used erythrosine. Our goverment, BPOM, already made a decision that erythrosine is allowed as long as it used in a certain ammount.

The Issues The main causes of the continuing global environmental degradation is the consumption and production patterns are unsustainable, particularly in industrialized countries. Excessive demands and lifestyle among the rich people cause severe pressure on the environment. Meanwhile, among the poor are unable to meet their needs for food, health care, shelter, and education. Consumption patterns of developed countries which tend to be excessive will directly affect the exploitation of natural resources of developing countries was spurred catch up with the industrialized countries.  Due to these demands, humans will try to meet their needs in different ways.  Eating, is a basic need for human beings in particular. Various materials can be processed into food that can be consumed. Both natural and synthetic food ingredients. because of the limitations of existing natural resources, human beings try to take advantage of synthetic materials as food additives.  Food additives are usually made from chemical substances that are not really good for health. Additional ingredients were added such as: dyes, preservatives, sweeteners, and flavorings.  Which will be discussed here is the additional material dye synthesis. Erythrosine dye synthesis is a commonly added to food, and beverages that require color to make it look more attractive.