This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.
As you may have noticed from reading this blog, I like to read up info to help me parent my kids. Info on education, info child development, info on parenting techniques and the like. But one area where I do have a deficiency in knowledge is all those numbers that you see on the ingredients lists of packaged food. I find them really confusing and don’t have a great handle on what they all mean. To compensate for my lack of knowledge I have started just trying to avoid foods that have a long list of numbers on them – hardly a scientific approach. My gut feel is these aren’t good for my kids, so they are best avoided.
Sure my kids still eat treat foods that have lots of numbers on the list of ingredients, but their consumption is definitely in the “sometimes food” category. But I would really like to know more natural/artificial colours. I think all parents are wary of artificial colourings and the effect they have on their kids – raspberry cordial anyone????
Natural vs Artificial Colours
The European Union has much stricter regulations on food labelling than we have here in Australia. They actually have six food colourings being voluntarily phased out due the impact they have on activity and attention in children. Despite evidence about the dangers of artificially coloured foods to children’s behaviour, a number of large companies in Australia still have not made the switch to natural colouring.
As I look to educate myself on artificial food colourings, I also want to help educate other parents on how to identify natural/artificial colours too. As part of this process and with technical guidance and advice from a leading natural colour supplier, I am conducting a survey on food colouring and would love as many Australian parents as possible to complete the survey. Once the data has been collected we should have a better understanding of parents concerns and their level of knowledge on the topic.
It is a short survey of only 12 quick multiple choice questions and you can complete it below. (If you are reading this via email or RSS feed you may need to click through to the blog to complete the survey.) The survey will be open until Thursday 14th July 2011 and I will post in early August a summary of the findings on the blog, along with more info that I am researching on natural/artificial colours, including tips on what to look for on the labels of food and drinks.
Thank you to everyone who completed the survey, the response was fantastic. I am now analysing the results and will post the results in a couple of weeks. I will place a link to the results post on this page as well.