On: An Illustrated Account of the Great Maple Syrup He...

[dghughes]

And also the bizarre 1886 to 1948 margarine ban and margarine with yellow dye wasn't legal until 1995 (FYI all butter is also tinted yellow).

[nkurz → dghughes]

(FYI all butter is also tinted yellow)

This is trivially false, in that even in the US there are many brands that do not color their butter[1], but I'd be interested in knowing the truth.

Is there an FDA rule that allows coloring to be added to butter without adding it to the ingredient list? I found a rule saying that FD&C Yellow No. 5 must explicitly be listed[2], and I did not see any exceptions for carotene.

[1] http://organicvalley.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/59...

[2] http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyG...

[mirimir → dghughes]

And oranges are dyed orange.

(They're really green.)

[nkurz → mirimir]

While this may be true enough to destroy ones faith in the FDA, it's mostly false at least in the US. Here's the US FDA's official policy: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyG...

Summarizing, if dyed oranges are sold, there must be a label declaring this at the point of sale.

In practice, only early season Florida oranges are dyed. California has stricter rules, and does not allow it at all: http://littlelocavores.blogspot.com/2011/02/when-orange-isnt...