Hidden Hues: A Review on the Implications of Colour Adulterants in Food

Food is considered as the fundamental requirement of living beings and is crucial for ensuring optimal nutrition for human kind. The act of eating foods can lead to pleasure and satisfaction for humans. Thus, appearance of food is an important aspect that makes it attractive to various age group of people and can be a source of joy. Food colorants are often used to enhance the aesthetic appeal of foods. Although, there are reports on using adulterants as food colorants that might cause harmful health impacts. Any foods must be free of any contaminants ensuring the consumer safety. In this context, the present study aims to identify the harmful colour additives used in food products and also to investigate the methods of detections of these colorants. This review also focuses on the health impacts of using unauthorized and harmful colour additives. Food safety detection methods, including home-based tests along with advanced analytical techniques, are also discussed. The study emphasizes on the importance of strict quality control and ethical procedures in ensuring food safety and consumer health by addressing the hidden threats of colour adulterants. DOI - https://doi.org/10.65525/SVUP.9788199565425.2026.112-124