Colors
Food, drug and cosmetic colorants
Year 1938 –Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938 set up 3 categories
-FD&C colors for use in foods drugs and cosmetics
-D&C colors for use in drugs and cosmetics when in contact with mucous membrane or ingested
-Ext. D&C colors for use in products applied externally
Year 1907 - 80 colorants available with few of them tested with safety.
Certified (Synthetic/Artificial) Colors
Lakes
Application
Colored Noodle Products
color will leach out during boiling, resulting in faded noodles on the plate
Water-soluble dyes may provide excellent coloration to pasta in a package
similar challenge as chewing gum.
useful in products containing fats and oils
For fat-based systems, lakes may be dispersed into an oil. Eg. chocolates, compound coatings, icings and cookie fillings.
Chewing gum
During chewing, the color remains locked inside the gum matrix, instead of leaching out into the consumer’s saliva.
Dispersing the lake into the gum matrix provides homogenous coloration, despite limited amounts of water that would hinder color development of a dye.
impart color by dispersing into the medium
base is aluminium hydroxide, with aluminium cation serving as the precipitant, such that the color adsorbs onto the surface of aluminium hydroxide, which is then dried and ground to appropriate fineness.
water-soluble FD&C dyes that are combined with an insoluble material/substrate.
Water-soluble dyes
used in aqueous beverages, dry mixes, confections, and dairy products
dissolve in water and can be manufactured as a powder, granule, or liquid
8 certified synthetic colours
FD&C Blue No 1
FD&C Blue No 2
FD&C Red No 40
FD&C Green No 3
FD&C Yellow No 5
FD&C Yellow No 6
Orange B
Citrus No 2
tend to be more economical (smaller quantity is required to give the same color intensity); easily produce uniform, intense colors; stand up to heat, light, pH and other factors; and do not add off-flavors.
Each batch of certified colors are tested by the manufacturer and the FDA to ensure that they meet strict specifications for purity
acronym FD&C indicates that these colors are approved by FDA for use in coloring foods, drugs, and cosmetics
man-made and are often referred to as synthetic/artificial colors and have been assigned an FD&C number.
Functions
Supplying a fun look to kid-oriented beverages and candies.
Providing a colorful identity to products that would otherwise have little color (e.g., gelatins)
Enhancing naturally weak colors
Correcting natural color variation
encourage acceptance by offsetting color loss caused by exposure to light, temperature extremes and/or moisture
Disadvantages of Natural Colors
Cost
costs more money (2 to 10 times the cost of their synthetic equivalents)
Objectionable off flavors and off odors
typically 4 to 10 times more concentrated than the native juice –this can cause objectionable off flavors and off odors that can seriously impact the customer’s finished product
Concentration
takes much higher levels of a natural color to obtain the same tint. As much as 10 to 100 times the level depending on the application
Available colors
not available in blue or green. Admittedly, these are not used for many applications besides confections.
Stability
carmine, carotenoids and paprika can fade in the presence of oxygen.
Metal ions, such as iron, copper, magnesium and aluminum, can catalyze oxidative color loss in carotenoids
example, annatto turns pink under acidic conditions, and pHs greater than 7 make turmeric look red and rapidly fadeopic
sensitive to light and heat exposure. Most natural colors can be used in only a limited range of pH
Advantages of Natural Colors
nutraceutical value. For example, carotenoids and anthocyanins currently recognised for their value as antioxidants
color stay with the curd rather than washing away with the whey
can provide transparent color to liquid, oil-based products. Eg. Annatto, used in cheddar cheese ,it binds to milk protein.
well-suited for high-fat, low-moisture foods without the special considerations of using an F.D.&C lake
Most oil soluble
Natural Colors
ANNATTO
water solubility
unstable to light & oxygen
Yellow to red color
Oldest colorants for food, cosmetics & textiles
Anthocyanins
Used : beverages, sugar confectionary, fruit preparations
pH dependent coloring agent
red at low pH to brownish green at high pH
Source: grapes and blackcurrant
Paprika
Used :meats, soups, sauces and snacks
Orange red color
Fairly stable to heat and light
Main colouring pigment capsanthin, capsorubin and beta carotene
Turmeric
Used : curry, bakery products
Main colouring pigment is curcumin
Curcumin-good heat and acid stability but sensitive to light
Carmine
Carminic acid, typically 17–24% of dried insects' weight, can be extracted from the body and eggs then mixed with aluminum or calcium salts to make carmine dye
Carmine is today primarily used as a food colouring and for cosmetics, especially as a lipstick colouring
still meet certain legal criteria for specifications and purity.
FDA uses the term “exempt color additives” to indicate that they are exempt from the certification process
include pigments derived from animal, vegetable, and mineral sources
exempt from certification consist of what are called natural and nature-identical colors
What is color additive
color additive is any dye, pigment or substance which when added or applied to food, drug or cosmetic, or to human body, is capable (alone or through reactions with other substances) of imparting color.
