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3 Coal Tar

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Flickr:iwasaround
Listed under “ingredients” as: Food coloring.

How we consumed it: Almost any artificially-dyed food

When manufacturers began making synthetic food coloring nearly 120 years ago, they relied heavily on coal tar (the byproduct of carbonized coal). Although the food industry has mostly phased out this product, the alternative isn’t much better: oil.

“Although certifiable color additives have been called coal-tar colors because of their traditional origins, today they are synthesized mainly from raw materials obtained from petroleum,” says the FDA website.

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