Nestle's popular candy-coated chocolates, Smarties, are getting a makeover. Actually, it's more of a make-under. They are being stripped of artificial colors starting next month. The blue candy will be most directly affected, as there is no naturally edible dye to produce the same or a similar shade. This means that Smarties' blue candies will be white until a suitable color replacement can be found.

Nestle Rowntree, the UK branch, is responding to concerns that artificial colorings may have a direct correlation with hyperactivity in children, as a study done at Liverpool University has suggested. The chemical colors that will no longer be used are: Brilliant Blue (E133); Quinoline Yellow (E104); Sunset Yellow (E110); Ponceau 4R (E124); and Carmoisine (E122).  The US Environment Protection Agency has listed Brilliant Blue in particular as a possible cancer risk. Nestle Australia, on the other hand, has no plans to eliminate their blue Smarties and states that they have naturally colored candies available.

I picked up a cookie. It was a stocking sugar cookie, the kind with just enough spice and a lot of crunch. It was covered in a thick coating of bright Christmas red icing, with white squiggles at the top to stand in for fur trim. I bit into the toe, a bite big enough to stain my teeth and leave crumbs all over my lips. Yum, red! I thought.

There is a distinct taste to red food coloring, the kind that is so prevalent around the red-centric Christmas holidays. And I love it. I can't quite explain it - it doesn't taste of chemicals to me; either I've developed a celebratory association with it over the years, or the taste comes from some more natural source (beetles maybe?) that I just enjoy thoroughly.