Cadbury and Mars say accusations are misleading

Accusations by the food campaign group highlighted how big selling Easter brands such as Cadbury's Crème Egg and Cadbury's Mini Eggs are among the products that still contain the colours. Cadbury promised to remove the colours in September 2007, and repeated their promise in April 2008 following the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) decision to pursue a 'voluntary ban' on the six colours. Mars also pledged in September 2007 to remove all artificial colours from several ranges including Starburst by the end of 2007. In March 2009 however, Starburst Choozers still contain two of the colours and Mars Revels contain three of the six colours. But the companies hit back with Cadbury saying it would remove all colourings in the coming months and that their promise to remove colourings had been misunderstood by the Food Commission. A spokesperson said the promise related to sweets and not chocolate but that by the end of the month neither Crème Egg or Mini Eggs would contain the colourings. Mars said that by the end of 2009 both Revels and Starburst Choozers will not contain the additives. Action on Additives co-ordinator Anna Glayzer said: "To make these pledges at times of high media attention and then quietly neglect to honour them is simply cynical PR opportunism. It is highly irresponsible behaviour from major multinational confectioners, especially when many other companies have reformulated." The Food Commission also expressed concern that the FSA's voluntary ban on the six Southampton Colours is not working effectively enough. Glayzer added: "At the moment, FSA efforts to enforce the voluntary ban consist of three very short lists hosted on a difficult to find area of the agency's website. It is of little help to parents and it fails to give an accurate picture of the UK market. A mandatory ban would be simple, effective and would take the burden off the parents."