The EU has cut the allowed levels of Canthaxanthin, a pigment used to colour the feed of farmed salmon and chickens following an EU scientific committee which established a link between the colorant and retinal problems in 1997. The pigment gives farmed salmon a more pinkish colour and makes egg yokes more golden. Under the new EU rule, the maximum levels of the colourant will be cut by at least two thirds. This Directive was agreed recently by the Member States in a vote in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health.

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2003/l_022/l_02220030125en00280030.pdf

Last modified on July 9 2003.