Credits: Social Media
Americans are learning the radioactive reason their Fanta is different color in the UK
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying a fizzy beverage in a foreign country, then you might have questioned why the US rendition of Fanta tastes like “radioactive” material compared to the UK’s.
The Revolutionary War might have ended centuries ago, but the divide between America and the UK is alive and well. While the feud is usually contained within social media, as evidenced by the recent debate on festival culture, it seems even the products we consume are different from those in the UK.
The shocking reason that Fanta is different in the UK
Though this topic is nothing particularly new in the world of soda, social media users on TikTok were only recently clued in on the juicy tidbit.
In a recent video, an American man asked British influencer McKenna Crisp (@mckennacrisp) why his Fanta was yellow.
“Because in the UK and Europe, Fanta is yellow, whereas in the US, and I didn’t know this, is blood orange,” he explained, noting how the product’s orange coloring comes from two different sources.
Where the US is concerned, Fanta is made from a combination of high-fructose corn syrup and synthetic dyes Yellow 6 and Red 40.
Because such dyes are banned in Europe, Fanta creates their signature orange (or yellow) color through natural ingredients like carrots, pumpkins, and orange fruit. While the US Fanta contains a staggering 73 grams of sugar, the UK’s version has 22.5 grams.
“Evidence shows that synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in some children,” California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment concluded after looking into synthetic food dyes.
Fanta is countless shades of red, yellow, and orange
As you might expect, McKenna’s video started an international incident as Americans argued why Fanta should be their version of orange. On the other side, Europeans flocked to take them down.
“German Fanta is yellow and is the original one,” one person wrote, as another said, “Fanta is yellow in the Netherlands as well.”
Another person wrote: “Omg the Fanta in Australia is a bright orange thats so weird why isnt it all the same.”
