“The responsibility for demonstrating the safety of any new food product on the market, lies with the developer of that product. This is similar to the situation with new chemicals and drugs. Therefore, when an applicant seeks approval for a new GM food, they must provide FSANZ with the evidence that supports the safety of the product. It is also a requirement that this data be generated within quality assurance guidelines that are based on internationally accepted protocols (i.e. approved methodology and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)) and stand up to external scrutiny (i.e. independent audits and documentation trails). To achieve this, the applicant submits to FSANZ a comprehensive dossier of quality-assured raw experimental data for each GM commodity.”

In other words, if you want something approved, then you provide your own research. And that applies to all 300 odd allowable additives in our food.

Foxes running chicken coops springs to mind

We don’t ban bananas just because some people have an adverse reaction to the natural amines they contain. Nor do we ban peanuts or other highly nutritious nuts because they cause problems for a small percentage of children. But we do emphasise their presence on labels so that susceptible people can avoid them. In the case of these colours and the preservative tested, it makes more sense to list them in a bright colour in the ingredients list or to provide a small card listing the suspect additives - as the UK Food Standards Agency has done.

It would also make sense to give the community an easy way to identify junk foods. My own quick rule of thumb is to avoid any food that contains more than five ingredients. A decent muesli is the exception to this rule, but in general, it works well.