American candy might look less colourful in the future if a proposed bill to stop the use of chemicals in confectionary and other processed food passes California’s legislature. Lawmaker Jesse Gabriel wants the companies behind Skittles, Nerds, Trolli gummies and Strawberry Nesquik to change their recipes, leaving out “dangerous” chemicals. Several ingredients are on the naughty list, but the major one is erythrosine (aka red dye No 3) – the synthetic chemical used to give food products a bright red colour. It’s been linked to behavioural issues in children and is banned in Oz/European food manufacturing but can be found in more than 3,000 US products. US environmental health science expert Linda Birnbaum supports the proposal and says “manufacturers don’t want to make things that they can’t sell to the 5th-largest economy in the world”. That probably means changes beyond California’s borders if the legislation passes. As long as nobody comes for chocolate…