However, the quantity used in the food and drinks here is controlled via the Good Manufacturing Practice and in compliance with the Food Act 1985, said Health Ministry Food Safety and Quality director Noraini Mohd Othman.

It is also allowed in accordance with the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), an international scientific expert committee that is administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation .

The colourings are sunset yellow (E110), quinoline yellow (E104), carmoisine (E122), allura red (E129), tatrazine (E102) and ponceau 4R (E124).

Noraini said artificial colourings had no nutritional value. They were only used to enhance the "look" of the food.
The FSA wants the colourings to be disallowed because of "an accumulating body of evidence" suggesting that their use may be associated with hyperactive behaviour in children, which can impair learning.

It is unclear how many people in Britain are affected.

Its more severe form, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is believed to affect between 2.4 per cent and five per cent of the population.

A new study in Britain revealed that artificial colouring may make food look attractive, but can be as harmful to a child's development as leaded petrol.

Previous studies had shown that the additives, found in a host of sweets and soft drinks, could lead to behavioural problems in children.

Researchers at Southampton University suggested that a seventh colouring -- sodium benzoate -- could affect children's intelligence by up to five IQ points.

FSA has called on manufacturers to voluntarily substitute the six artificial colourings with natural replacements, while further research is carried out on sodium benzoate.

Lead researcher Professor Jim Stevenson said he had written to the FSA to take immediate action.

The Telegraph quoted him as saying: "The position in relation to artificial food colours is analogous to the state of knowledge about lead and IQ that was being evaluated in the early 1980.

"Needleman (a researcher) found that the difference in IQ between high and low lead groups was 5.5 IQ points. This is very close to the sizes obtained in our study of food additives."

However, a spokesman for the Food and Drink Federation in London said food additives were properly tested before being allowed to reach the public.

He was quoted as saying that the use of food additives was strictly regulated under European law and they had to be approved as safe by the appropriate European scientific committee before they could be used.

Noraini said the ministry placed emphasis and gave priority to ensuring that people only consumed safe food.

"If there is enough evidence to show that artificial colourings cause harm to human beings, then the ministry will take the necessary action to safeguard the health of Malaysians," she added.

She advised parents to make sure their children took a balanced diet so that they would live a healthy life.