Caramel color, Class IV. The brown in nearly every cola on the shelf.

Caramel color, Class IV.

The brown in nearly every cola on the shelf. It sounds like something off a candy thermometer. It is made with ammonia and sulfites.

Caramel color comes in four classes, separated only by what goes into the reaction. Class I is plain caramel: just heat and carbohydrate, no ammonia, no sulfites. Class IV is the other end of the spectrum, cooked with both sulfite and ammonia compounds, which is what delivers cola its deep, consistent brown at massive scale.

Here is the catch. The ammonia process can leave behind 4-methylimidazole, a byproduct that California placed on its Proposition 65 list. Same familiar words on the label, "caramel color," but the version in the world's most popular soft drink is the one carrying the contaminant question, while plain Class I, the one closest to a kitchen pot, is the only class made without ammonia or sulfites at all.

One phrase on the ingredient line. Four very different processes behind it. Only one of them is clean-label simple.

Knowing which caramel you are actually buying, and what it brings along with it, is exactly what DyeConverter is built for.

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