In food coloring, caramel color sounds almost natural. Unlike artificial colors like FD&C Blue No. 1 or FD& C Yellow 5, which bring up images of being created by a mad scientist in a lab, caramel color sounds like it comes from the age-old process of heating sugars to form dark-brown caramel.

But it doesn’t. Furthermore, far from being innocuous, caramel color, which is widely used in brown soft drinks, may cause cancer due to 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI), a chemical byproduct formed when certain types of caramel coloring are manufactured.
There’s no way to tell for certain whether 4-MeI is in soda, as it is listed on labels simply as caramel coloring or artificial coloring.

“‘It’s possible to get more than 29 micrograms – 10 times the danger level – of 4-MeI in one can of some of the drinks we tested. And even if your choice of soft drink contains half that amount, many people have more than one can per day.

Pepsi Says 4-MeI Levels Meet Standards Based on One-Third Can a Day Consumption. ABC News reported: “PepsiCo arrived at their conclusion by including people with low-consumption rates, such as children under the age of 2, in their averages. 

Caramel coloring can be found in a wide variety of other common products beyond soda, too, including:
Fast-food beef

Cat food and dog food

Beer
Chocolate

Potato chips

Soy sauce
Sauce mixes and gravies

Dark breads – the so-called ‘brown bread’

Being careful with these can go a long way toward reducing your risk for chronic health problems and weight gain, not to mention your exposure to potentially cancer-causing additives like caramel coloring.