When you eat your Smarties...

I came across this gem of an article the other day...and because I am a big Smarties fan, it obviously caught my attention. Turns out that as of March of this year, blue and green Smarties are no more! You see Nestle Canada decided to get rid of the Smarties when they started using only natural dyes and got rid of their nasty synthetic precursors. But why did only blue and green hit the chopping block? There is no natural replacement for blue dye, and since green is made using blue (..remember your primary colours in elementary school art class?).

The reason for the interest in removing artificial dyes? According to the article opinion polls have shown that people are 'increasingly wary of synthetic chemicals and prefer natural ingredients'. I'm all for using natural ingredients in food products whenever possible...but am not sure I believe the above statement. Processed snack food sales are higher now than ever before, and they contain numerous ingredients that I doubt the majority of people could even pronounce.I'm supposed to believe that people actually care about synthetic dyes all that much? A perfect illustration of this I recently noticed would be the launch of Kraft Dinner Crackers with some of the grossest sounding ingredients (pick up a box in the grocery store and see for yourself!).

In Britain, Nestle stopped using artificial colours in Smarties back in 2006. The result? Upset children forced to eat Smarties that didn't turn their tongues the token gross blueish colour. And it wasn't until this year that blue Smarties were able to make a comeback in Britain. How? A natural source that could provide blue colouring was found: phycocyanin, a component of blue-green algae! Sound yummy? Don't worry, Nestle Canada won't be turning to that as an option because the use of phycocyanin as a colouring agent is not a federally approved here at home.

So we do without! And I know its for the better but, I know I will be a bit sad next time I open a box of Smarties that lacks the blue & green ones I've known and loved for so long. But it isn't all bad news. At least for the time being Mars, Nestle's competitor and maker of M&Ms has not followed the lead. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't grateful...I happen to like the sultry little green M&M! But I do fear over her fate if Mars decides to drop the dyes also...