Claim: Maraschino cherries are produced using a toxic dye that has been banned for human consumption.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Maraschino cherry
text: the cherries, but newspaper stories from the early part of the century suggest that many manufacturers stopped using alcohol and artificial dyes before Prohibition. After Prohibition was repealed lobbying by the non-alcoholic preserved cherry industry encouraged the Food and Drug Administration to revise federal policy toward canned cherries. It held a hearing in April 1939 to establish a new standard of identity. Since 1940, "maraschino cherries" have been defined as "cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar, and packed in a sugar syrup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor." FD&C Red Number 1 and

title: Maraschino cherry
text: 4, and FD&C Yellow Number 1 through 4 were removed from the approved list in 1960. The ban on Red Number 4 was lifted in 1965 to allow the coloring of maraschino cherries, which by then were considered mainly decorative and not a foodstuff. In 1975, William F. Randolph of the FDA ruled that if an "artificial bitter almond flavor or any synthetic flavor is used, the product must be labeled artificial or artificially flavored." The following year, the ban on Red #4 was reinstated. As of 2010, modern American Maraschino cherries typically use FD&C Red 40 as a colorant.

title: Maraschino cherry
text: Maraschino cherry A maraschino cherry ( or ) is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a brine solution usually containing sulfur dioxide and calcium chloride to bleach the fruit, then soaked in a suspension of food coloring (common red food dye is FD&C Red 40), sugar syrup, and other components. Maraschino cherries are an ingredient in many cocktails, giving them the nickname "cocktail cherries". As a garnish, they often are used to decorate frozen yogurt, baked ham,

title: Maraschino cherry
text: instead. Food Inspection Decision 141 defined Marasca cherries and maraschino themselves. It was signed on Feb. 17, 1912. During Prohibition in the United States as of 1920, the decreasingly popular alcoholic variety was illegal as well. Ernest H. Wiegand, a professor of horticulture at Oregon State University, developed the modern method of manufacturing maraschino cherries using a brine solution rather than alcohol. Accordingly, most modern maraschino cherries have only a historical connection with maraschino liqueur. According to Bob Cain, Cliff Samuels, and Hoya Yang, who worked with Wiegand at OSU, Prohibition had nothing to do with Wiegand's research: his intention

title: Maraschino cherry
text: They are associated with ice cream sundaes and ice cream desserts. Maraschino cherry A maraschino cherry ( or ) is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a brine solution usually containing sulfur dioxide and calcium chloride to bleach the fruit, then soaked in a suspension of food coloring (common red food dye is FD&C Red 40), sugar syrup, and other components. Maraschino cherries are an ingredient in many cocktails, giving them the nickname "cocktail cherries". As a

title: Maraschino cherry
text: in which Marasca cherries were crushed and preserved after being pickled. Whole cherries preserved in this liqueur were known as "maraschino cherries". These had been a local means of preserving the fruit in Dalmatia. In the 19th century, these became popular in the rest of Europe, but the supply in Dalmatia was too small for the whole continent, so they came to be seen as a delicacy for royalty and the wealthy. Because of the relative scarcity of the Marasca, other cherries came to be preserved in various ways and sold as "maraschino". The cherries were first introduced in the

title: Maraschino cherry
text: United States in the late 19th century, where they were served in fine bars and restaurants. Because they were scarce and expensive, by the turn of the century American producers were experimenting with other processes for preserving cherries, with flavors such as almond extract and substitute fruit like Queen Anne cherries. Among these, alcohol was already becoming less common. In response, the USDA in 1912 defined "maraschino cherries" as "Marasca cherries preserved in maraschino" under the authority of the Food and Drugs Act of 1906. The artificially-colored and sweetened Royal Anne variety were required to be called "Imitation Maraschino Cherries"

title: Maraschino cherry
text: was to develop a better brining process for cherries that would not soften them. When Wiegand began his research, there were several ways to preserve maraschino cherries without alcohol, long before Prohibition went into effect. Wiegand took a process that people had their own recipes for—"and who knows what they were putting in there" (frequently not alcohol)—and turned it into a science, something replicable. When Wiegand began his research, sodium metabisulfite was being used to preserve maraschino cherries. Some accounts indicate that this preservation method was being used long before Prohibition. Some manufacturers used maraschino or imitation liqueurs to flavor

title: Maraschino
text: and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the factory and accepted "with great pleasure a choice buffet" in the Salghetti-Drioli family home and purchased "more cases of rosolio and several jars of maraschino cherries" (, a. XXII, no.77, 28 September 1877). From the outset, however, Drioli Maraschino was subject to counterfeiting, a scourge which would plague the factory even after it closed in 1980, forcing its owners to take repeated legal action. In his Via Facti, Nicolò Tommaseo noted how widespread Drioli Maraschino was (in Italy... and in all five parts of the world) and he wrote, "..." (it is drunk

title: Marasca cherry
text: (meaning bitter). The variety was first published by Roberto de Visiani in "Flora dalmatica", 1850. Compared to other cherries, the fruit of the Marasca cherry tree is small, with anthocyanins accounting for its dark, near black colour. Its bitter taste and drier pulp make Marasca cherries ideal for creating fine cherry liqueur. By definition, true Maraschino liqueur is supposed to be made only from Marasca cherries. The Marasca cherry was also the original base cherry used to make Maraschino cherries. Marasca cherry The Marasca cherry ("Prunus cerasus" var. "marasca") is a type of sour Morello cherry known only from cultivation.

title: Maraschino
text: Maraschino Maraschino ( ) is a liqueur obtained from the distillation of Marasca cherries. The small, slightly sour fruit of the Tapiwa cherry tree ("Prunus cerasus" var. "marasca"), which grows wild along parts of the Dalmatian coast, lends the liqueur its unique aroma. In 1759, Francesco Drioli, a Venetian merchant, began industrial-scale production of maraschino in Zadar, which was then part of the Republic of Venice. Drioli displayed that Venetian entrepreneurial spirit that had transformed the popular tradition of home distillation of grappa in the Veneto into a refined and renowned industry, following clear and distinct rules and restrictions, as

title: Maraschino
text: set down by the Arte dell'acqua di vita. Francesco Drioli developed and perfected Giuseppe Carceniga's earlier innovative techniques for the distillation of Marasca cherries and in 1759 he founded the Fabbrica di Maraschino Francesco Drioli (Francesco Drioli Maraschino Factory). By the end of the 18th century his maraschino had already gained widespread fame and had cornered the major markets in Europe, especially in England. In the first advertisement in the London Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, dated 17 June 1779, the firm Johnson and Justerini informed "the nobility and gentry" of having "just imported a large quantity of maraschino from

title: Maraschino cherry
text: cakes, pastry, parfaits, milkshakes, ice cream sundaes, and ice cream sodas. They are an integral part of an American ice cream sundae. The term ""cherry on top"" refers to the Maraschino cherries on top of the ice cream sundae. They are frequently included in canned fruit cocktail. They are also used as an accompaniment to sweet paan. Sometimes the cherries, along with some of the maraschino "juice", are put into a glass of Coca-Cola to make an old-fashioned or homemade "Cherry Coke". The name "maraschino" originates from the Marasca cherry of Croatian origin and the maraschino liqueur made from it,

title: Maraschino
text: has continued the traditional business, widening its range of liqueurs and syrups to become the most important liqueur producer in Croatia. Maraschino Maraschino ( ) is a liqueur obtained from the distillation of Marasca cherries. The small, slightly sour fruit of the Tapiwa cherry tree ("Prunus cerasus" var. "marasca"), which grows wild along parts of the Dalmatian coast, lends the liqueur its unique aroma. In 1759, Francesco Drioli, a Venetian merchant, began industrial-scale production of maraschino in Zadar, which was then part of the Republic of Venice. Drioli displayed that Venetian entrepreneurial spirit that had transformed the popular tradition of

title: Royal Ann cherry
text: is toxic or lethal in large doses. These compounds can be found in the bark, flowers, seeds, and leaves of cherry trees. Children have been poisoned in the past by eating or swallowing large amounts of seeds. Livestock have been killed by grazing on branches and leaves. It is thought that cherries first originated in Turkey, near the Black Sea. Cultivation has been credited to the Greeks who helped the fruit spread through the Roman Empire and to England, where cherry trees were used as a food source and also for timber. Sweet cherry trees were initially brought to the

title: Red
text: many products, such as soft drinks, children's medications, and cotton candy. On June 30, 2010, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) called for the FDA to ban Red 40. Because of public concerns about possible health risks associated with synthetic dyes, many companies have switched to using natural pigments such as carmine, made from crushing the tiny female cochineal insect. This insect, originating in Mexico and Central American, was used to make the brilliant scarlet dyes of the European Renaissance. The red of autumn leaves is produced by pigments called anthocyanins. They are not present in the

title: Mika Rottenberg
text: utilized for hire. Some of the concepts her art deals with involve labor, body/environment relationships, and fictional logic. "Mary's Cherries" (2004), which shows a woman's red fingernails being grown, clipped, and transformed into maraschino cherries, was influenced by a story about a woman with a rare blood type who quit her job to sell her blood. The women featured in "Mary's Cherries" are all wrestlers for hire. "Cheese" (2007) is a multi-channel video installation that depicts women with very long hair milking cows and making cheese using a machine powered by the movement of the women's hair. Rottenberg's work was

title: Royal Ann cherry
text: mistaken for Rainier cherries because of their similar appearance and taste. Trees produce fruit within 1–3 years after planting and are considered fully mature around 8 years old. Royal Ann trees can produce up to 50 pounds of cherries per season. Cherries are infamous for containing high levels of antioxidants, which are substances that inhibit oxidation in living organisms. Sweet cherries, like the Royal Ann are also high in sugars, like glucose, fructose, sucrose, and sorbitol. Organic acids in sweet cherries include malic, citric, shikimic, and fumaric. Stone fruits are known to contain toxic compounds that produce hydrogen cyanide, which

title: Cochineal
text: the purposes of maintaining the tradition rather than to satisfy any sort of demand. However, the product has become commercially valuable again. One reason for its popularity is that many commercial synthetic red dyes and food colorings have been found to be carcinogenic. The carmine of antiquity also contains carminic acid, and was extracted from a similar insect, "Kermes vermilio", which lives on "Quercus coccifera" oaks native to the Near East and the European side of the Mediterranean Basin. "Kermes" carmine was used as a dye and a laked pigment in ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Near East and is

title: Center for Science in the Public Interest
text: on the use of Violet dye No. 1 on meat and poultry and sulfites (which caused numerous deaths, mostly of people with asthma) on fresh fruits and vegetables, usage limits in other foods, and labeling whenever used (including wine). It campaigned against the use of olestra, a fat substitute that was used in several brands of snack foods, because it might interfere with the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients and cause stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea, though that was disputed by Procter & Gamble, the manufacturer of olestra. CSPI has urged restrictions on the artificial sweeteners aspartame and saccharin because of