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Comment by dotancohen | Hacker News Reader

I think that E102, E104, E110, E122, E124, and E129 are in fact banned in Europe. I even bothered to remember the numbers, so I'd know what to avoid locally. Here in Israel we use the same names for these food colourings as in Europe, but they are allowed.

Notably, only one local chain sources M&Ms from Europe, so we buy from them. All other stores source M&Ms from the US and have these colours. You can see the difference in the candies.

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No, E102 (tartrazine) is not banned. It used to be banned in some countries before EU harmonization. But food producers probably avoid it due to the required labeling.

I see, thanks. Looking at my Anki card, my information was from 2014.

Seems E124 (ponceau 4R) is not banned? This study[0] has "a total of 227 products were labelled with ponceau 4R" although they do estimate daily intake is below safe levels.

0: https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2026...

I understand how the kosher rules around food probably originated - basically avoiding what in those times would have been dangerous options. Do the kosher rules get updated for the modern era with respect to things like additives etc? We’ve learned that many modern additives (can) have negative health impacts. Do things like this get considered?

No because the laws were specific not general. But obviously people can follow the inspiration of avoiding "unclean" food.

It's a myth that kosher rules were about health. Even at the time, those foods were no more dangerous than the things they were allowed to eat.

The kosher rules have more to do with cultural identity: "we are the people who eat/don't eat X". We have similar rules today. We revile people who eat foods we consider dirty (insects, dogs, horse, etc), but they suffer no ill effects.

They do reconsider the kosher rules in modern lights. Insect derived dyes are banned, for example. But they don't need scripture to tell you what's healthy. They use science for that.

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