Artificial food coloring ingredients (food dye) contain plenty of chemicals. Many are derived from highly toxic sources and can cause many different diseases, disorders, and mutations in humans. Although it seems unlikely that a trivial amount of food coloring in a piece of a candy you eat (like liquorice) would have any harmful effect on you, you would be wrong, because it does.
Artificial colors look great. They make food look vibrant and appealing. The majority of food colors are made with petroleum. They are a derivative of Petrochemicals and Coal tar. These chemicals are in no way made to be ingested by humans or any other animal. In fact, food dye is pulled off of the market regularly because of health concerns. Yellow #2 food dye will likely be the next to go. It’s be shown to cause ADHD, multiple types of cancer, male sterility, and many other issues.
Artificial Colors aren’t just in junk food or sodas. Some salmon farms actually add red food dye to their salmon to make them appear more appetizing. It works. When looking for fish a customer always wants the freshest they can buy. A pink/red salmon is much more appealing to eat than one that’s gray or just darker.
There have been petitions to ban these chemicals and dyes, but most of them still remain on the market. It will really take a lot more research and widespread awareness to ban these chemicals from making their way into our food.