Recent years have seen the market demand for food colorants changing in substantial ways, particularly regarding synthetic and natural colorants. For years, synthetic colorants were preferred because they are easy to use, deliver bright colors in a variety of food matrices, and perform in consistent and predictable ways. Moreover, they are inexpensive.
Synthetics also are available in concentrated form and dissolve readily in water (dyes) or disperse well in fat-based systems (lakes). Highly stable in most applications, they generally are resistant to heat, light, and low pH. Another factor in the use and acceptance of synthetics: Consumers did not seriously question the inclusion of such colorants in the products they purchased. Their general assumption was that the food supply was safe, and synthetic ingredients presented no harm.
Today, heightened consumer awareness and concern regarding the contents of food are inescapable. So, too, is the resultant preference for natural versus synthetic ingredients, irrespective of the safety of the latter. Other trends include the development of natural sources of colors previously available only in synthetic form, such as high-intensity blues which now are available from the huito fruit and purple cabbage. Also, there have been technological leaps in fine-tuning natural colorants to get stronger tones and a more comprehensive variety of shades. Examples include tomato-derived colorants that range from bright yellow to deep vermillion.
Make it Last
Meeting the challenges faced by the colorant industry regarding natural food and beverage coloring agents, technologists are responding with innovations that allow use of natural food colorants in increasingly difficult applications.
Food scientists have actively sought ways to close the stability gap between naturals and synthetics. For example, the tocopherol form of vitamin E, and extracts from sources such as rosemary, act as “sacrificial” antioxidants to protect carotenoid colorants such as annatto, paprika, beta-carotene, and others from oxidative degradation, therefore lengthening the shelf life of these colorants in application.
These natural antioxidants can be used where it is necessary to combine the antioxidant intimately with the carotenoid to achieve stabilization. While simple in fat-based formulations in which antioxidant and color are readily soluble, it is more challenging when the colorant is incorporated into a water-based matrix.
More-recent additions to the natural colorant palette—anthocyanins from red radish, purple sweet potato, red cabbage, and black carrot, for example—have been found to intrinsically contain their own attached co-pigment. This greatly enhances their stability, permitting use across a greater pH range. Similar technologies and discoveries continue to expand the non-synthetic colorant toolbox, such that getting color from Mother Nature is rapidly becoming the rule, rather than the exception.
In this section, we offer detailed listings for suppliers of natural and artificial colorants, including those fruit, vegetable, and other ingredients that have a secondary use as natural colorants. Click the box for references by company name, headquarters, and website.
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