Synthetic dyes are often less costly and technically superior to natural dyes. Originally, these were dubbed 'coal-tar' colors because the starting materials were obtained from bituminous coal. In 1856, mauveine, the first synthetic color, was developed by Sir William Henry Perkin and by the turn of the century, unmonitored color additives had spread through Europe and the United States in all sorts of popular foods, including ketchup, mustard, jellies, and wine. In 1851, about 200 people were poisoned in England, 17 of them fatally, directly as a result of eating adulterated lozenges. Historical records show that injuries, even deaths, resulted from tainted colorants. Many color additives had never been tested for toxicity or other adverse effects. Again his tea if mixed or green, he would certainly not escape without the administration of a little Prussian blue. At dinner with his curry or cayenne he would run the chance of a second dose of lead or mercury with pickles, bottled fruit and vegetables he would be nearly sure to have copper administrated to him and while he partook of bon-bons at dessert, there was no telling of the number of poisonous pigments he might consume. Thus, with potted meat, fish and sauces taken at breakfast he would consume more or less Armenian bole, red lead, or even bisulphuret of mercury. Sellers at the time offered more than 80 artificial coloring agents, some invented for dyeing textiles, not foods.
It also caused two deaths when used to color a dessert in 1860. Copper arsenite (CuHAsO 3) was used to recolor used tea leaves for resale.Red lead (Pb 3O 4) and vermillion (HgS) were routinely used to color cheese and confectionery.Heavy metal and other inorganic element-containing compounds turned out to be cheap and suitable to "restore" the color of watered-down milk and other foodstuffs, some more lurid examples being: Analytical chemistry was still primitive and regulations few. These new urban dwellers demanded food at low cost. With the onset of the industrial revolution, people became dependent on foods produced by others. The addition of food coloring, such as beta-carotene, gives naturally white margarine a yellow, butter-like color.
One of the first food laws, created in Augsburg, Germany, in 1531, concerned spices or colorants and required saffron counterfeiters to be burned. This situation changed with urbanization at the beginning of the Modern Age, when trade emerged-especially the import of precious spices and colors. Under feudalism, aesthetic aspects were not considered, at least not by the vast majority of the generally very poor population. During the Middle Ages, the economy in the European countries was based on agriculture, and the peasants were accustomed to producing their own food locally or trading within the village communities. The addition of colorants to foods is thought to have occurred in Egyptian cities as early as 1500 BC, when candy makers added natural extracts and wine to improve the products' appearance. Allow consumers to identify products on sight, like candy flavors or medicine dosages.
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