Food Additives to Avoid for Kids: A Parent's Label Guide
Which food additives to avoid for kids, what the research actually says, and how to spot colours, emulsifiers, sweeteners and preservatives on labels.
If you want a short list of food additives to avoid for kids, start here: a handful of artificial colours, a few emulsifiers, the common artificial sweeteners, and three groups of preservatives. None of them will harm a child from one lolly or one sausage. But they turn up in the foods kids eat most often, and for some of them the evidence is strong enough that regulators in Europe already put warnings on the packet.
This guide walks through each group, explains what the research says in plain words, and shows you how the same additive is written on a label in the US, the EU and UK, and Australia. It goes with our guides on how to read food labels and ultra-processed food and the NOVA groups.
First, a bit of calm
Additives are not poison and most are approved after review by bodies like the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). The problem is not one additive on one day. It is that a small number of additives keep showing up in cereals, snacks, drinks and treats, so a child’s intake adds up.
The sensible goal is not zero. It is fewer, and less often. If your child has a diagnosed condition such as ADHD, asthma or a sulfite sensitivity, talk to your GP or paediatrician before changing their diet.
Artificial colours
Synthetic colours do nothing for nutrition. They make food look brighter so it sells. Kids’ products lean on them heavily: jelly, icing, cordial, sports drinks, coated cereals, chewy sweets.
The Southampton study and the EU warning label
In 2007 researchers at the University of Southampton published a study in The Lancet that gave groups of three-year-olds and eight-to-nine-year-olds drinks containing a mix of six colours plus the preservative sodium benzoate. Children in the general population, not just children with ADHD, showed more hyperactive behaviour after the mixed drinks than after a placebo.
EFSA reviewed the study and said it was not strong enough on its own to change safe intake levels. Even so, the EU decided to act. Since 2010, any food in the EU containing one of the six “Southampton colours” must carry the words: “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” The UK kept the rule after leaving the EU. Many manufacturers reformulated rather than print it. The same colours remain in wide use in the US and Australia with no warning.
The six colours, three ways of writing them
| Colour | EU/UK label | Australia label | US label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tartrazine | E102 | 102 | Yellow 5 |
| Quinoline yellow | E104 | 104 | Not permitted in food |
| Sunset yellow | E110 | 110 | Yellow 6 |
| Carmoisine | E122 | 122 | Not permitted in food |
| Ponceau 4R | E124 | 124 | Not permitted in food |
| Allura red | E129 | 129 | Red 40 |
Two other US colours worth knowing: Red 3 (erythrosine, E127 / 127), which the FDA moved to remove from food in 2025 after it was linked to thyroid tumours in male rats, and Blue 1 (E133 / 133), which is common in blue drinks and icing.
Milo flags all of these under “artificial colours” and names them in the score explanation, so you can see exactly which one is in the packet.
Emulsifiers
Emulsifiers keep oil and water mixed and give factory food a smooth texture and long shelf life. You will find them in ice cream, flavoured milk, dairy desserts, packaged bread, mayonnaise and many “kid” yoghurts.
Three come up again and again in gut research:
- Polysorbate 80 (E433 / 433 / “polysorbate 80”)
- Carboxymethylcellulose, also called cellulose gum (E466 / 466 / “cellulose gum” or “CMC”)
- Carrageenan (E407 / 407 / “carrageenan”)
What the gut research says
A 2015 study in Nature fed mice small amounts of polysorbate 80 or carboxymethylcellulose and saw changes in their gut bacteria, a thinner protective mucus layer, low-grade inflammation and weight gain. That is a mouse study, so it proves nothing about children on its own. A small controlled trial in healthy adults in 2022 found that a diet with carboxymethylcellulose changed the makeup of their gut bacteria and reduced some useful by-products of digestion. Larger human studies are still under way.
Carrageenan is extracted from seaweed, which sounds gentle. EFSA re-evaluated it in 2018 and kept the existing safe intake, but said important safety data were missing and asked industry for more studies. It is not permitted in infant formula in the EU.
This is why Milo describes these additives with wording like “disturbance of the gut microbiota” or “weakened gut barrier” rather than a vague “may be harmful”. The evidence is early, so Milo grades it honestly as “Some evidence of harm”, not “Strong”.
Artificial sweeteners
Sweeteners replace sugar in “diet”, “zero”, “no added sugar” and “lite” products. Parents often reach for these to cut sugar, which is a reasonable instinct. The catch is that the research on sweeteners in children is thin.
| Sweetener | EU/UK | Australia | US label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aspartame | E951 | 951 | Aspartame (with a phenylketonurics warning) |
| Sucralose | E955 | 955 | Sucralose |
| Acesulfame K | E950 | 950 | Acesulfame potassium, Ace-K |
What the named bodies say:
- The World Health Organization issued a guideline in 2023 advising against using non-sugar sweeteners to control body weight, because the long-term evidence did not show a benefit and hinted at possible harms in adults. It was a conditional recommendation and excluded people with diabetes.
- The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of WHO, classified aspartame in 2023 as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2B). In the same week, the joint FAO/WHO expert committee kept the acceptable daily intake unchanged, meaning normal amounts are still considered safe. Both things are true at once: the hazard evidence is limited, and typical intake is far below the limit.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics noted in a 2019 policy statement that there is little long-term data on sweeteners in children and that families should know when products contain them.
For most kids the practical answer is simple: plain water and plain milk are the drinks, and neither sugar-sweetened nor sweetener-sweetened drinks need to be an everyday thing.
Preservatives
Sodium benzoate
E211 / 211 / “sodium benzoate”. Used in soft drinks, cordials, sauces and pickles. It was the preservative in the Southampton mix above. It can also react with vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in drinks to form small amounts of benzene, which is why the FDA has worked with drink makers to reformulate. Look for it in fruit-flavoured drinks that also list ascorbic acid.
Sulfites
E220 to E228 / 220 to 228 / “sulphur dioxide”, “sodium metabisulfite”, “contains sulfites”. Found in dried fruit (the bright orange apricots), cordial, sausages in Australia, and some juices. Sulfites can trigger asthma-like reactions in a minority of people, especially those who already have asthma. The EU, UK, Australia and US all require sulfites to be declared when above a threshold, and Milo lets you set sulfites as an allergen so every scan warns you.
Nitrites and nitrates
E249 and E250 (nitrites), E251 and E252 (nitrates) / 249 to 252 / “sodium nitrite”, “potassium nitrate”, “cured with celery powder”. These keep ham, bacon, salami, frankfurts and deli meats pink and safe from botulism. In 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified processed meat as carcinogenic to humans, and the formation of nitrosamines from nitrites is one of the suspected reasons. Cancer Council Australia and the NHS both advise keeping processed meat to a minimum. “Nitrite-free” products cured with celery powder contain the same nitrites from a natural source, so the claim does not change much.
How to spot them on a label
Additives look different depending on where you shop:
- US: written as plain names, often in brackets after a function, e.g. “color (Red 40, Yellow 5)”. There are no E numbers. Colours can also hide behind “artificial color” on some products.
- EU and UK: the function comes first, then the name or the E number, e.g. “colour: E110” or “preservative: sodium benzoate”. Either form is legal, so learn both.
- Australia and New Zealand: same idea as the EU but the number is written without the E, e.g. “colour (110)” or “preservative (211)”.
A quick checklist for the supermarket:
- Turn the packet over. Front-of-pack claims like “no artificial flavours” say nothing about colours or preservatives.
- Scan the ingredient list for the word “colour”/“color”, “emulsifier”, “sweetener” and “preservative”. The additive follows.
- Numbers in the 100s are colours, 200s are preservatives, 400s are emulsifiers and thickeners, 900s include sweeteners.
- Fewer additives is the goal, not zero. A yoghurt with one thickener is a different thing from a lolly with five colours and two preservatives. A long list of them is also the quickest sign of an ultra-processed food.
How Milo helps
Reading E numbers in a busy aisle is nobody’s idea of fun. Milo scans the barcode, names each additive in plain language, rates it with an evidence-based tier such as “Strong evidence of harm” or “Some evidence of harm”, and rolls that into a 0 to 100 Milo Score alongside nutrition and processing. If a product scores low, Milo suggests a better-scoring swap from the same aisle. Milo is free to download on the App Store, and it never takes money from brands to change a score.
Common questions
Are E numbers always bad?
No. E300 is vitamin C, E330 is citric acid from citrus fruit, E160a is beta-carotene from carrots. The E simply means the additive is approved in the EU. What matters is which number, not that there is one.
Should I cut out every additive on this list?
That is rarely possible and not needed. Aim to make foods with these additives occasional rather than daily, especially the six Southampton colours and processed meats. If your child has a health condition, talk to your GP or paediatrician first.
Is “natural colour” safer?
Usually, yes. Colours from beetroot, paprika, turmeric and spirulina were not part of the hyperactivity research and are generally considered low risk. Annatto (E160b / 160b) can cause reactions in a small number of people, so it is worth knowing the name.
My child seems worse after party food. Is it the colours?
It might be, or it might be the sugar, the excitement, or a late night. If you see a pattern, note it down and raise it with your GP or paediatrician rather than cutting food groups on your own. Our guide to reading food labels can help you spot the colours so you can test your hunch.