It has been one of the listed ingredients of Coke and Pepsi for as long as most people can remember but, if the Center for Science in the Public Interest, or CSPI, has its way, caramel color will no longer be used to make colas.
Citing studies that link several types of cancer to a chemical in caramel coloring, the head of the CSPI told 9 News that jeopardizing people's health simply to give colas their familiar brown hue is just not acceptable.
"There are 310 million Americans and we're saying that about 15-thousand of us will develop cancer as a result of the caramel coloring," said Michael Jacobson, CSPI's executive director.