Why the Kellogg's Protest Matters

Plus easy natural food dyes you can make at home

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

I wrote this article last week. I woke up and screamed into a pillow today. I am sad, I am angry, I am all the feelings. My husband keeps checking in on me. I need my garden as a place of solace more than ever right now.

Food Dye Took Over My Childhood

As mentioned in a previous post, I was a child of the 80s and came of age in the 90s. I have a distinct childhood memory of the controversy of red M&Ms coming back.

Red M&Ms were removed from the product in 1976 when federal regulations identified Red Dye №2 as a potential health threat after a Soviet study erroneously identified it as a carcinogen. People were outraged — they wrote letters, recalling them as a source of comfort during WWII, or as a way to learn to count [1]. Born after this debacle, I was delighted when they reappeared in 1987.

From there, the food industry decided to take the “X-Treme” route of adding food dyes to our snacks and treats [2]. Heinz launched ketchup in purple, orange, green, teal, and pink. Hi-C released a bright green Ecto-Cooler, which I loved and drank every day. Fruit roll-ups released a product that allowed you to put a food-dye tattoo on your tongue before eating.

Birthday parties regularly served juice barrels, which were just sugar water and food dye. Everything was marketed as X-Treme. These products still mostly exist, and rather than being thought of as extreme, they are now the norm.

Why are People Picketing Outside Kellogg’s?

You may have heard of “The Food Babe,” author and activist Vani Hari. She is known for a petition to stop Kraft from using artificial orange color in its mac and cheese and for getting Subway to stop putting azodicarbonamide in their bread. I don’t know what azodicarbonamide is exactly, but she argued that it was also used in yoga mats. Perhaps this is why my dog tries to chew on my mat whenever I take it out.

Critics call her a fearmonger and claim she is promoting pseudoscience. She lacks credentials in nutrition or science, although she claims she is an investigator [3].

I agree with some of her claims, not all. However, I do agree with her current battle- getting manufacturers to remove artificial dyes from food, specifically food marketed to children. She is the woman behind the recent protests outside of Kellogg’s.

In 2015, Kellogg’s vowed to stop using artificial ingredients in their products by 2018. Nearly 10 years later, they have not kept that promise, at least not in the United States. They use natural coloring in their products sold in Canada and Europe. This is unfair to American consumers. She sent a petition of over 400,000 signatures earlier in October and received no response. Now she is holding rallies outside their headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan.

This is ironic given Kellogg’s history of being the first in the industry to hire a dietician when they hired Mary Barber in 1923. She started the Kellogg’s Home Economics Department and defined the roles different foods play in proper diets. [4]

My Anecdotal Experience is a Large Pool

Back to the 90s, I ate all this food without any regard to my health, but then my health started to change. I was a 20-year-old with heartburn, high blood pressure, and acne across my forehead and back.

It was after I got a horrible case of bronchitis that I started to take a look at what I was eating. That was when I gave up processed food. I cut out all preservatives and artificial dyes, and began to eat real food. My skin cleared up, my blood pressure went down, and I was a much, much happier person.

When I was potty training my son, I gave him M&Ms as a reward, a treat he had never tried in his first 2.5 years on this earth. It was Jekyll and Hyde. It took 2–3 M&Ms to make him aggressive and hyper. At 8 years old this still happens, and we avoid all artificial dyes.

Critics would argue that these are just two anecdotal experiences and are not backed by any scientific research.

But what about my years and years of experience working with kids?

When I was an afterschool director, I took over a program that had the worst behaviors in the district. I cut out all dyes and replaced them with healthier snacks. The behaviors did a complete 180.

I have noticed through my years in education that children who consume the most junk food have the most trouble focusing. I am not talking about the ADHD kids, although they should avoid it as well. When snack is towards the end of the day, and we still have to get through a lesson with my third graders, the kids who eat the most junk food struggle the most. I don’t allow candy in my classroom, but I am powerless to stop the blue Takis and such.

Natural Dyes from Plants

This week, I am going to show you how to make natural dyes from plants that you can grow in your garden, specifically for frosting.

The colors may not be as vibrant as the boxed stuff, but my kids do not care. In all cases, you will add the colors to this basic recipe for buttercream frosting.

In essence, you are extracting colors from the plant, in this case, butterfly spinach and red and yellow beets.

Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 4 cups confectioners sugar

• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons color, more if necessary (see methods below)

Add butter into a large bowl and cream with electric hand mixer for 1 minute. Add powdered sugar into the bowl, one cup at a time, and mix until fully combined. Add vanilla and color and continue to mix until very fluffy, about 2-3 more minutes.

Green Frosting

In this case, we are using spinach to make our green. In a highspeed blender, add 3 cups of fresh spinach with 1/2 cup water. Puree and add too frosting recipe as directed above. Save the rest for a smoothie.

Pink/Yellow Frosting

This is going to be your most vibrant color because we are using beets. If you have ever cut beets, you know how badly they can stain your hands and cutting boards. Red beets will make pink, golden beets will make yellow. Peel and dice 2 beets, place in saucepan and cover with water. Simmer until beets are cooked through and water has reduced by half. Let cool and add to frosting as directed above.

Cheers,

Anne