Sulphur has been linked to asthma attacks and research show that when Australian children go back to school their asthma attack rates increase five times and this is because the food taken to school often contains large doses of sulphite preservatives.

Sulphites are found in many of the products that are perceived as healthy. They are in almost all processed fruit and muesli bars, luncheon meats, juices, cordials and dried fruit.   

Used as a preservative, Sulphites prevent the growth of bacteria and also inhibit enzymes which cause food to discolour and have bleaching and antioxidant actions.  Tropical Harvest 's process insures that there is no sulphur in our dried fruit.

Sulphites include Sodium and potassium sulphite, sulphur dioxide, Sodium and potassium bisulphite, and the metabisulphites.

220      Sulphur dioxide
221      Sodium sulphite
222      Sodium bisulphite
223      Sodium metabisulphite
224      Potassium metabisulphite
225      Potassium sulphite
228      Potassium bisulphate

How do Sulphites affect our health?

·          associated with the full range of food intolerance symptoms including headaches, skin rashes, irritable bowel symptoms, gastric upsets, nausea and diarrhoea.

·          behaviour disturbances

The effects of consumption are cumulative and after often delay, making it difficult to identify the cause, and the connection is rarely made. The reactions can be subtle and it may not be until you remove the additive from the diet that you will notice what the problem was.  For example food additives such as bright colouring will often have an almost immediate impact on behaviour, but preservatives can have a slower, cumulative effect.  When they are removed from the diet children are generally much calmer and have a greater ability to concentrate and learn.

·          best known for their effects on asthmatics since the well publicised 'salad bar' deaths of the 1970s and 80s when there were hundreds of reports of severe reactions and at least 12 asthmatics died from eating salads that had been sprayed with sulphites in restaurants.

In 1999 the conservative World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated of the number of sulphite-sensitive asthmatic children to be as high as 20-30%. WHO recommends the use of sulphites in foods be reduced and phased out due to their effect on child asthmatics.

Doctors rarely advise asthmatics about the dangers of sulphites and instead prescribe medication. A worldwide study conducted of children aged 13-14 year show Australia has the 3rd highest percentage of Asthmatics for this age group in the world. One in four children in Australia suffers from chronic asthma. Asthma attacks can be fatal.

Many other symptoms also attributed to sulphite consumption. It destroys Vitamin B1 and is banned from use on food recognised as a source of B1, like fresh fruit and vegetables.

What is an acceptable intake?

The Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of sulphite preservative as recommended by WHO is 0.7mg per kg of bodyweight. This means for an average 6 year old weighing 21 kg the ADI would be 15mg. One dried apricot, dried by traditional methods,  exceeds this amount as it contains 16mg of sulphite.  For a 2 year old, the limit would be half a dried apricot.

Children have higher exposures per kilogram of body weight and therefore greater exposures as a percentage of the ADI. This is primarily due to their higher consumption of sulphite food per body weight compared to adults.

Which foods contain sulphites?

Dried fruit is probably the single biggest source of sulphur dioxide your children will ever encounter. An average 200 gm packet of dried fruit would contain 577 mg of sulphur dioxide, or 144 mg per 50g serve.

See below for comparison with other possible sulphite sources for children (sulphite levels are very variable):

• sausages
       8 mg in half a thin sausage
• drinks
       5 mg in one glass of cordial
• hot chips
       1 mg in half a cup of hot chips
• dried fruit
       16 mg in one dried apricot (far higher per serve than any other food consumed by children)

Our Kids Variety Pack range over comes this problem because they contain absolutely no sulphur and give you confidence that your child is getting the pure goodness of fruit .

What are the Australian standards for preservatives and additives?

In many countries the use of sulphite preservative is limited or banned in certain foods in Australia it is also ‘limited’ in its application to foods, but our acceptable levels are much higher than the rest of the world.

In Australia the maximum permitted sulphite level in dried fruits is 3000 mg/kg which is 50% higher than most other countries.

Although there are limits on the amount of sulphite that can go into a food, generally consumers are unaware about how much to consume and have do not know what the acceptable intake is.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s (FSANZ) role is to protect the health and safety of people in Australia and New Zealand through the maintenance of a safe food supply, however they allow many food additives to be included in our foods that have their use limited or banned overseas.  So for real confidence that you are providing the very best for your family make sure you are buying a Sulphur-free product like Tropical Harvest.