WEBVTT - Ep 180 Food Dyes: It’s all marketing 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.080 Blue Smarties were dropped in two thousand and five, only 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:05.640 to return in two thousand and eight as a distinctly 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:09.000 less blue M and ms have come under attack for 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.559 their use of red, yellow, and blue artificial dyes. Green 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.560 Ketchup was a revelation for Hines when it was introduced 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.160 in two thousand. At its launch, then Global Ketchup manager 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.280 Casey Kelly said the company was on track to ship 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:24.400 in the first ninety days what we thought we would 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.120 sell in the first year. This thing has taken on 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.600 a momentum of its own, Kelly said, illustrating with his 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:34.760 use of the term this thing the sinister fascination with 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:39.479 a new inappropriately colored sauce. Soon there was orange Ketchup 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.680 and purple Ketchup, and teal and blue and pink. But 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.559 it didn't last. Hines withdrew those product lines in two 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.280 thousand and six, and the world was left with plain 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.480 old red Ketchup. It might well have been the last 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.360 hurrah of a generation's rainbow of nonsense food. We might 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.120 be healthier for it, but we are less colorful too. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.200 So next time you stroll down the bland cereal or 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:04.560 snack aisle, spare a thought for the proud chemical factories 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.480 where scientists in white coats once injected a vast pallette 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.679 of colors into everyday foods. Imagine what we could have 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.960 been eating by now, Rainbow bread, yellow steak, pink cheese. 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:21.520 Imagine now a gray factory, a decaying factory, windows long 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.520 since smashed, roof and disrepair. A laboratory full of test 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:29.720 tubes and conical flasks lying on their sides. A solitary cheeto, 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.959 proudly orange blown past in an icy wind. A flash 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.240 of color among the dreary scene. It briefly lifts the 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.120 spirits before getting caught up in the dust, doomed to 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.679 fade and fester. Imagine this and lament. 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:31.959 You cannot be serious. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:36.720 I know, it's the most dramatic render. Like I just 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.040 love all of the imagery of that, so I. 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.240 Do too, I mean, and like, I really don't think 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:43.120 that it is serious. 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:45.400 But it's not. It's not serious at all. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.360 I am not the audience. Like, I'm just thinking my 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.440 favorite cereal these days, you know, historically crackling o brand, 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:53.640 but these days just plain. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:58.600 Brand, not even crackling out. I love a brand cereal. 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.960 That, by the way, was excerpt from an article in 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.760 the Guardian from twenty fifteen by Adam Gabbat, and I 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.040 just loved the imagery of it. 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:09.600 I love a cinnamon too's crunch. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:11.440 I know we've talked about this before, but yeah, I 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.560 haven't checked lately to see what colors are involved. 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.480 That's fair, That's fair. I mean I think a surprising 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.400 number of things do have artificial food colorance. Absolutely, and 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.400 it's possible that some of the brands that I have 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.520 purchased over the past few years absolutely. 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:31.720 Do, very very likely. In fact, great ketch up. Hi, 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.240 I'm Aaron Welsh and I'm Erin Alman Updyke And this. 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:36.680 Is this podcast will kill you? 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.360 Can you guess? We're talking about food dies today? 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:44.120 We are this? Oh I'm excited for this one, are you? 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:49.360 I am? Because it's just it's a fun. 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:55.360 Little story, okay, And it forced me to evaluate the 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.680 feelings that I have about food dies and maybe form 0:03:58.760 --> 0:03:59.640 some of those feelings. 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:01.440 Do you want to tell me about those feelings? 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.280 We can do that that later on. 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.760 Oh okay, okay, yeah, yeah, well. 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.160 Get I'm sure that there will be plenty of time 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.000 to get into the various feelings that we have about 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.520 these things. These things substances. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.040 I can't. Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be fun. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.200 We're gonna focus mostly on the synthetic food dies. 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:18.680 Yeah. 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:20.080 Yeah yeah, cold tar dies. 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:25.279 Coltar dies now mostly manufactured from petroleum. Yeah, it's gonna 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.480 if let's just get into it, shout into it. 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:30.480 First things First. 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:32.159 It's quarantine any time it is. 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:33.560 What are we drinking this week? 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:38.000 We could drink nothing other than over the rainbow? So 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:39.280 many meanings to that. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.919 So many And of course this is food dies episode, 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.360 like what are we supposed to not do? Blue currosol? 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.800 No, there was only one choice and it was blue currosole. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.200 And there is only one other choice, and it must 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.599 include Marachino cherries. So, Aaron, you want to tell us 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:56.839 what's in it? I do? 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:57.400 I do. 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.600 It has of blue curasol, as we have discussed, it 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:07.839 has rum, it has cream of coconut, pineapple juice. Uh 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.240 and uh yeah, marishio cherries. It's a blended bev. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.360 Yeah, like a little blue situation. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:20.120 It is a beautiful drink, which is the purpose that 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:20.600 food does. 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.480 The point t L d R yep, yeah, t LDL 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:26.880 we learned, t LDL. 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:31.240 We will post the full recipe for over the Rainbow 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:35.080 on our website but also especially on our social media channel, 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:36.440 So make sure you're following us. 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.080 Yeah, check it out. We're trying to do these like videos, 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:40.440 yeah things these days. 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:44.320 It's real taken some getting used to. 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.160 Give for it. Come and tell us how much you 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:51.080 like them. You still like button? You know? 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.400 Yeah? Yeah, yeah yeah. 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.279 And if you're not following us yet on social media, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.000 please we'd love it if you did that. Also, if 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.280 you haven't yet rated and reviewed and subscribed on wherever 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.680 you like to listen. Is it on iHeart podcasts? Is 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:08.839 it on Apple Podcasts? Is it Spotify? I don't know, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.360 but just you know, do the things YouTube were there, 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.280 and we have a website, this podcast we Kill You 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:15.640 dot com. 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.000 There's lots of things on it. Check it out. 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.440 Wow, nicely done, Thank you, nicely done. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:22.040 To get in there. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.000 I guess there's nothing else that we need to do 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.360 before we get started. 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:29.120 Yeah, and you're starting right. 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.039 Sure? Okay, I guess did we talk about this? 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.320 I thought I think we talked about it one time 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.520 briefly a long time ago, and I was like, man, okay, 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.520 I don't have any All my stuff is like current 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.359 events so I don't really have a biology section to 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:44.880 tell you about. 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.320 So all right, can we learn about the history of food? 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.200 Don let's do it? Wow? How fun? 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.479 Okay, but totally forgot, totally scripted. 0:06:54.920 --> 0:07:28.800 Let's take a quick break and get started. It's Saturday morning, 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:35.160 and do you feel like cooking a big old breakfast, eggs, pancakes, bacon, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.200 you know, the whole shebang. Yeah, But when you pull 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.800 out that pack of bacon shoved into the back of 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.320 your fridge for who knows how long, you notice that 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.200 it looks kind of off, like it's awfully gray, a 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:53.040 little bit brown. Better not. It's Wednesday evening and you're 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.680 in the produce section of your grocery store, picking through 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.240 the clamshells of strawberries, trying to find the one that 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:03.480 has the and juiciest looking fruits, while also keeping an 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:07.160 eye up for any signs of mold. It's Friday morning, 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:09.480 and you're eyeing the bananas you got at the beginning 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.120 of the week, trying to decide whether the last of 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:16.280 the bunch is still snackworthy or if they're destined as 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:21.000 ingredient in banana bread. How yellow or speckled do you 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.960 like your bananas on the scale of things. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:25.680 This is a question, is a real question. 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:28.400 Yeah, much less speckled. 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.160 Like, oh see, I like I like a speckled very 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:32.040 I knew. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.720 This about us, that we have different banana preferences. No, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:35.840 I like mine, not. 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.880 Green, but like just after wow, that's too that's too 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:40.640 too much for me. 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:41.560 Yeah, I liked it. 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.720 I liked it, but it's just it's a preference. 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:45.840 Yeah, that's how I feel about the browns. 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.520 But actually, once they start to have like more than 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:49.640 a couple, I'm like, it's just too soft. 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:50.600 It's the texture. 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:52.040 See, I like that texture. 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:53.480 Then they go banana bread. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:58.959 I love that. Yeah. For many of us, taste begins 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.720 not with our mouth off our taste buds, but with 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:05.480 our eyes. Our visual perception of food has a powerful 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.600 influence over the way that we taste that food, even 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.560 acting as a deciding factor in whether or not we're 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:16.640 willing to eat something like speckled bananas. Yeah, like this. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.439 Hide the broccoli in the mac and cheese. It's not 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:19.800 gonna go well exactly. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:20.720 Yeah. 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:24.640 This link between vision and taste, along with smell, is 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:29.720 evolutionarily ingrained. Our ability to evaluate food quality based on 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.920 its appearance might help us select the most nutritious foods, 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:37.000 like the ripest strawberries, or avoid food that is spoiled 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:41.800 or poisonous, like that gray bacon or moldy bread. But 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:47.160 it's also learned over our lives, we develop strong preferences 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:51.280 for foods or expectations for taste, based on their appearance. 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:57.240 Yellow pudding signals lemon or banana flavor. Anything else would 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:58.240 be weird. 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:02.000 Right, right, I imagine like yellow strawberry pudding. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:03.040 Right, that would be weird. 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:07.320 It would be jarring. Yeah, light green ice cream, probably 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:11.560 mint or pisaccio. It would be alarming. I guess maybe 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.520 alarming is not quite the right word, but it would 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.800 be a shock if you got a scoop of green 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.320 ice cream and found out that it was actually orange flavored, 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:25.520 like you took your first little bite or lift. Yeah, yeah, strange. 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.240 Our expectations of the way that food should taste can 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.600 be so powerful that they can lead to disgust or 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:37.360 aversion if the reality does not match those expectations, like 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.560 pepsi discovered in nineteen ninety three. When they're highly anticipated, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:47.000 clear pepsi completely flopped. Yeah, clear soda should taste citrusy, right, 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.520 like that is what a clear soda means, right, even 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.920 though or I guess cream soda, but even though the brown. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.599 Yeah cream soda, cream soada, Actually it's at least like 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:57.320 a light brown. 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.960 Yeah, you're right, it's like slightly tan. Yeah, to indicate 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:05.559 that it's not cru right, I'm a lie. But the 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:09.920 brown of cola comes from coloring. Seven up, which is 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.520 a clear soda, was initially dyed brown until they removed 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.000 the dye to distinguish it from other sodas. That's like 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.160 a marketing tactic. Yeah. And then of course, like in 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.360 the first hand account, Green and Purple Ketchup, I remember 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.959 that my brothers loved green Ketchup. They were so psyched 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.360 about it, and I was disgusted. I was like, I 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:30.000 can't eat it. 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:33.640 I babysat for a family who I remember very distinctly 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:42.800 bought at one point blue and pink margarine like squeezable butter. Yeah, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.640 and it was like, you know, like Barbie pink and 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.160 like if there's an equivalent of Barbie pink and blue, 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.119 it was like very blue and pink. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:56.560 Jump scare, Like that's not for butter. I'm not into it. 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:57.640 Into it. 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:02.280 Yeah, the power of preference the power of Yeah. But 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:07.400 one study demonstrated how strong these expectations can influence our, 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:12.319 you know, overall feelings. When the study they fed participants 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.920 at dinner that consisted of steak, peas, and French fries, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.360 but the people who were doing the conducting the study 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.720 altered the lighting so that participants couldn't see that the 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.920 steak was actually dyed blue, the peas were dyed red, 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.800 and the French fries were dyed green. And when they 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:36.560 put the normal lighting back into place so that people 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.079 could actually see the true colors of what they had eaten, 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.880 some people were so disgusted that they got ill. They 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:42.439 got sick. 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:46.480 Wow, Like they ate it just fine. They were like, yes, 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:48.800 this was tasty. Then they saw it and they were like. 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:54.679 Who yeah, exactly. But it wasn't just like these colors alone, 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.880 like we've encountered blue candy or popsicles before. It was 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:02.920 even though blue is like, as I saw somewhere, like 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:07.360 the not very common color that we find in nature 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.600 for food, and so it tends to be reserved for 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:15.800 like fun foods to the foods. Yeah, yeah, but it 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:20.640 was this mismatch between expectation and reality. The relationship between 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:25.080 vision and food color is evolutionarily rooted. Trichromatic color vision 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.319 may have evolved to help us detect red fruits against 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.320 green foliage or to see snakes. Check out our snake 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.199 venom episode from years back. 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.400 Well, and our color vision episode and our color vision episode. 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:38.760 But oh yeah, that is I was like car else 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.720 did we talk about that? Yeah, But it's also something 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.240 that we learn and grow preferences for, starting in early childhood. 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.520 And these preferences, of course greatly affect which foods we 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.600 might select or find appetizing, which has made them a 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.800 very relevant issue for those producing the foods, who might 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.200 opt to add a bit more of this or of 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:03.040 that color to enhance the appeal of their product. So 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.480 that you pick the pink filet of farm raised salmon 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.360 that actually gets this pink color not from the carotenoids 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.720 in the food that wild salmon eat, but from dyes, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.360 or you pick the orangeist orange whose skin might actually 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.520 be dyed to saturate the natural orange coloring. And it 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.600 might seem like the controversy surrounding food dies is a 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.640 fairly recent one, at least within the past few decades, 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.040 and growing in volume every year, but in fact it 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.200 dates back millennia, and at the heart of it, the 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:39.400 arguments against artificial food colorants have fallen into the same 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:46.520 two categories throughout that entire time, deception and toxicity. Before 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:48.880 we go back to ancient Egypt, I want to make 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.080 a quick note about the language that I'll be using 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.160 to talk about food dies, because there are so many 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.760 different descriptors for these yes, and so since this episode 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.600 mostly focuses on coal tar dies or synthetic dies, I'm 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.440 calling these synthetic dyes. And if I say natural dyes, 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.960 which I know the word natural meanings meaningless, it's not great. 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.920 I'm referring to the dyes derived from nature, plants or 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.440 animals like those little cochineal insects used to make red 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.720 food dye or saffron which comes from plants, And any 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.320 coloring or dye added to food I'm calling artificial. 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.040 That's the perfect and exactly how I was going to 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:27.200 do it. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:27.520 Airs. 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:28.640 I'm glad we're on the same page. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:48.760 Excellent, Okay, back to ancient Egypt. Yes, even millennial old 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.840 papyri describe colorants added to medicines. 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:52.720 Wow. 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:57.640 Yeah, but the first conclusive evidence or like written descriptions 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.640 that humans added artificial dyes to food. Food comes from 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:04.440 ancient Greece and Rome. Dyes were added to wine to 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:09.320 make them look more robust, have bigger body, stronger bodies, yeah, 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.440 well rounded by I don't know how you'd talk about wine. 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.120 Darker colors, yummier wine. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:19.479 There you go, exactly. And then there were things like saffron, 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:24.640 squid ink, paprika, turmeric, beets, etc. So these like naturally 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:30.000 derived colors that were added to various foods. These colors 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.440 often carried with them additional meaning. So for instance, the 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.920 rarer the colorant like saffron, the more it was valued 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:41.640 or considered to have more nutritious qualities. Often, certain colors 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:47.200 were associated with wealth or royalty or divine healing. You 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.880 could easily imagine that someone might judge up their cake 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.880 or wine with a sprinkling of natural colorant, which is 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.920 exactly what some bakers did in England in the Middle Ages, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:03.520 teaching us that natural does not necessarily mean better. Oh yes, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:08.159 white flower at the time was considered top tier, but 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.439 if a baker couldn't get their hands on white flower, 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:15.359 they resorted to adding lime, chalk or crushed bones. So 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:16.720 their bread would turn out white. 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.160 Oh, crush bones. I know, who's bones. 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:25.639 That's a great question. I do not know, do not know. 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:28.480 Does it matter? 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:33.320 No, it doesn't. But I'm just curious like you. 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:39.600 Oh yeah, I mean I not regulated, that's for certain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.879 And this practice actually inspired one of the oldest laws 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:47.640 against food adulteration in the late thirteenth century. Quote, If 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:49.800 any default shall be found in the bread of a 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.480 baker in the city the first time, let him be 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.560 drawn upon a hurdle from the guildhall to his own house, 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.959 through the great street, where there be most people assembled, 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:01.840 and through the streets which are most dirty, with the 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.680 faulty loaf hanging from his neck. That's the first offense. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:11.520 That's the first off A second, oh my. 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.239 Gosh, there had to be not only a second, but 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:14.840 also a third. 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:15.800 You're right, dear. 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.480 If a second time he shall be found committing the 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.080 same offense, let him be drawn from the guildhall through 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.639 the great street of cheap to the pillory, and let 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.919 him be put upon the pillary and remain there at 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:31.240 least one hour in the day. And the third time 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.639 that such default shall be found, he shall be drawn 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.560 and the oven shall be pulled down and the baker 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:40.680 made to forswear the trade in the city forever. 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.840 Oh my gosh, three strikes and you're out totally. 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:56.240 That's where baseball got the idea. Don't laugh at my 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:05.760 terrible jokes. Yeah, it's not, Oh my gosh. Other laws 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.439 that I guess later were repealed based on your story 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:10.639 of babysitting prohibited coloring butter. 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:14.960 Well, this was margarine technically. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.080 Well, the margarine thing later became I didn't even go 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:18.680 into it, but this whole episode could have been about 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.760 the margarine wars and like coloring margarine and you know, 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:27.000 could restaurants be allowed to serve margarine under the you know, 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:28.359 but pretend like it was butter. 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.840 Oh, there was like butter in the handy margarine exactly. 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.399 Fascinating Well, because like yellow coloring in margarine. Margarine is 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:40.479 not naturally yellow. No, it's like crystal exactly, and so 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.960 adding yellow makes it look like butter, and so it's 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.440 like it kind of toes a line of deceitful marketing practices, 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.920 are deceitful food practices? Yeah? 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:51.440 Interesting, yep. 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.800 And there were other laws that prohibited adding colors to 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.199 pastries that made it look like they contained eggs because 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:06.080 they'd These laws were designed to protect consumers from deceitful 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:10.280 sales as well as poisonous additives, and so there definitely 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.040 was some awareness of the addition of dyes and other 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:17.240 substances to foods and drinks to enhance color or impart flavor, 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:22.920 and the potential danger inherent in those practices, but things 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.280 remained fairly under control until the seventeen hundreds and into 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.520 the eighteen hundreds, and this is when increasing trade and 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.520 long distance travel encouraged people to look for ways to 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:37.879 keep food fresher and looking tastier over longer periods of time. 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:44.080 Vividly colored foods came to represent the quote unquote success 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:49.160 of colonialism, since saturated and bright colors were more likely 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.159 to be found outside of the sooty streets of Charles 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.320 Dickens London, such as in India, the jewel of the 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:59.000 Crown of the British Empire, and the demand for these 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:04.600 brighter colors from quote unquote exotic lands rose. The Industrial 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.960 Revolution only deepened this need for food enhancement, as people 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:11.240 moved to cities where food had to be transported into 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.080 where it had to have a longer shelf life and 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:18.399 where demand for year round availability was high, and at 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:21.960 the same time it provided a means to develop new 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:25.760 preservatives and colorance through the growth of science and technology. 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:32.520 Whether these substances were safe was of secondary importance. As 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:34.919 long as they kept the pickles of vivid green and 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.360 the coffee grounds nice and dark, it was a okay. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:43.840 Even if that vivid green was achieved through copper or 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:49.080 the coffee color gotten through beef blood for example. Yeah, 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:54.400 that's just a problem for future the future producers. 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:55.280 Just feel like that wouldn't taste good. 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.520 I don't think that was that mattered. 0:21:58.720 --> 0:21:59.000 Okay. 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:02.520 I bought it right, like you already paid for. 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:05.760 It, Okay, Yeah, yep. 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:09.720 But this, like you know, quote unquote future problem was 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.000 actually the not very distant future, as it would turn out. 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:16.439 As early as eighteen twenty, chemists were ringing the warning 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:20.200 bell for the increasing use of harmful dyes in food products, 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:25.200 but it was largely unheated in much of Europe. Even 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:28.080 if it was heated, chemists were faced with the substantial 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:31.800 challenge of identifying which compounds were toxic and at what 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:35.520 levels they were toxic. That's pretty key, right, you know, 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.200 Dose is in the poison? How much lead in your 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:40.520 cayenne is safe? 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:41.360 Like, hey, that one? 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:41.639 We know? 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:43.280 None? Yeah? 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.879 How much arsenic in your candy yet? None? Yeah? 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:47.200 Easy? 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:51.560 But things were going to get even more challenging in 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:54.560 the second half of the nineteenth century with the explosion 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:59.280 of coal tar dyes. In eighteen fifty six, eighteen year 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.960 old English chemist William Henry Perkin was tasked with creating 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:07.840 a synthetic alternative treatment for malaria to replace quinine, which 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:11.600 comes from Sinchona Park and was expensive and difficult to get. 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:17.240 He didn't succeed, but he did stumble upon a different 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:22.679 breakthrough that would revolutionize food and fashion an industry. In 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.920 one of his experiments with anoline, which came from coal tar, 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:29.959 he noticed that swirling inside his flask was a vivid 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:35.640 purplish color, which he later called mauvine. Perkin immediately saw 0:23:35.680 --> 0:23:38.600 the potential this could have as a die and enlisted 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:41.840 the help of his friend and his brother to scale 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:44.800 up production. He applied for a patent. This is an 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:47.600 eighteen year old kid, I love this Wow. Left the 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:52.120 academic lab, gathered funds to start a factory, and changed 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:57.560 industrial chemistry and the pharmaceutical industry forever. Wow, this is 0:23:57.600 --> 0:24:02.760