Tilapia Red Dye
Level 2 — Generally safe
Tilapia Red Dye is a other additive listed in the FDA food-additive database.
Also: red food coloring (substituted fish)
Where you'll see it
restaurant 'snapper,' sushi, fish counter mislabeled product
What the research says
Used in food fraud to make cheap tilapia ($3.51/lb) look like more expensive snapper ($15/lb). The dye itself is a marker for substituted, often imported, lower-quality fish raised in suboptimal conditions; the food-fraud pathology is in the deception and the omega-6-rich feedlot fish, not the dye alone.
[metabolical] Used in food fraud to make cheap tilapia ($3.51/lb) look like more expensive snapper ($15/lb). The dye itself is a marker for substituted, often imported, lower-quality fish raised in suboptimal conditions; the food-fraud pathology is in the deception and the omega-6-rich feedlot fish, not the dye alone.
Regulatory status
- Notes: From enrichment source only, not in Winter Dictionary
Sources
- Metabolical (Lustig) — Chapter 22: tilapia (containing red dye), which costs $3.51 per pound, is swapped out for snapper, which costs about $15 per pound