Day 040 - 21 Oct 94 - Page 33
1 A. Certainly consumers are entitled to know what they are
2 getting, but I am not for one moment convinced that it is
3 necessary to introduce synthetic colours in order to
4 provide that information. It may be that -----
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You were not asked whether it was necessary;
7 you were asked whether it is common sense that the consumer
8 would prefer?
9 A. Could you then complete sentence?
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: Would prefer to know which was which by which I
12 mean a consumer, you might agree, would expect his
13 strawberry milk shake to be pink and his banana milk shake
14 to be yellow?
15 A. They certainly expect to know which is which. They may
16 nowadays have the expectation that they have particular
17 colours, but that expectation might derive from a
18 long-standing practice on the part food industry to use the
19 colours, and that might not be a natural and spontaneous
20 way of behaving.
21
22 Q. Dr. Millstone, it might also be right, might it not, from
23 the fact that in their natural state strawberries are red
24 and bananas are yellow?
25 A. I have ----
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think all that is being put, and we have
28 been on milk shakes, but if you look at an array of ice
29 creams and you decide which one you want, it is rather
30 satisfying that the banana one is a sort of pale yellow and
31 the strawberry one is pink, and so on.
32 A. It does not particularly provide me with satisfaction.
33 I have found when I have gone to the Continent where
34 especially confectionery and ice cream are frequently a
35 much paler colour and have a much stronger flavour, often
36 because they are manufactured using real rather than
37 synthetic flavourings, I find that perfectly agreeable.
38 I personally do not feel that the use of synthetic colours
39 in any way enhances qualities of the product.
40
41 MR. RAMPTON: I would like you to look at the next paragraph on
42 this page: "Since reactions to food additives probably
43 affect only about one in 10,000 people", that is 0.01 per
44 cent. If our population is 52 million, roughly speaking,
45 that means 5,200 people in the United Kingdom, is it not,
46 if it is right?
47 A. If it is right, it sounds about right, but I think it
48 is not right.
49
50 Q. One in 10,000 is, if our population -----
51 A. I am not challenging your arithmetic. I am challenging
52 the estimate of one in 10,000.
53
54 Q. I know you do not accept any of the estimates below about 5
55 per cent I think you told us in your evidence?
56 A. What I indicated was that the true estimate is unlikely
57 to be greater than 5 per cent, and I would be surprised if
58 it was lower than 1 per cent. I did not endorse any
59 particular figure.
60
