If olives don't grow red, then don't eat red ones

Sandhurst Rainbow Olives. $7.49 for 500g.

There’s real food in this rare-as-hen’s-teeth milk drink, Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate Milk, and so much sugar it needs a flashing light warning.

Who knew that olives didn't come in rainbow colours? Well ... me, actually. I naively thought that olives grew in all colours, like tomatoes, carrots or capsicums. And in the past I have enjoyed eating them from a bowl with a drink in the evening. But now I think about it there was no difference in flavour.

And that will be because olives come in just two shades -- green and, later when ripened, black. This jar has olives which range from olive coloured, to bright green, red and grey and it seems this is achieved by adding colours.

Olives (50 per cent)
These are Cerignola olives, according to the label. These are grown in the southern Italian region of Puglia and are large, mild-flavoured and usually eaten green.

Water
Quite a lot of water in here when you consider the olives make up only 50 per cent of the 500g jar.

Salt
This is a cured product so you would expect it to be quite high in salt. You'll get 705mg of sodium per 50g serve. Daily recommended intake of sodium for an adult is between 920g and 2300g a day.

Citric acid (330)
This is a common and natural preservative as well as a flavouring.

Food acids (260)
This is acetic acid or vinegar.

Approved colours (E141 -- green, E127 -- red, E579 -- ferrous gluconate black)
When a label states "approved colours" I always find that quite defensive. This product should not be on the supermarket shelf unless the colours were approved by our Food Standards Authority. Having said that, one of the colours does not seem to be approved at all.

The red colour, the synthetic coal tar dye erythrosine (127), has been studied extensively because of concerns that it could affect thyroid activity. However, our FSA says it can be used to colour preserved cherries known as maraschino cherries, cocktail cherries, or glace cherries, and for use in icings and frostings. It is not allowed to be used for any other purpose. Which would be olives. So this product appears to be breaking the FSA rules.

The reasoning for the restrictions could be because it is believed that someone would have to eat a hell of a lot of preserved cherries and icing to come anywhere near the level where adverse effects could take place.

It would seem that these olives would be adding to that intake.

The green colour chlorophyll copper complexes (141) is a natural colour, as is the black colour ferrous gluconate (579) which is normally used as a pH regulator and comes from gluconate which is often used as an iron supplement.

Ascorbic acid (300)
Otherwise known as vitamin C. In here most likely as a preservative.

My recommendations
Now that we all know that olives come in green and black, it is probably best to restrain your consumption to those two colours. And check on the jar that colours haven't been added, just in case.

This is yet another lesson in how to eat naturally. If olives don't grow red, then don't eat red ones.

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