Natural Food Colors: Panacea for Intricacies Pertaining to Artificial Color?

by Basant K. Global Market Research Reports

Day in and day out households are buying storing, preparing and consuming a wide range of food products—right from the basic ingredients to ready-made meals. Color has often been shunned that has the bearing on flavor. Pigments coloring tend to be unstable and are modified in the course of processing as the hostile conditions used during food processing decimate them. No wonder, coloring agents are intentionally added to food products to restore or maintain product color uniformity.

Color is by far the first conspicuous characteristic of a food and often colors people’s expectation. There’s no denying connoisseur and gourmet often use color to identify the food and to judge the quality of the food.

There have been several studies deducing the color helps in predetermining the expectations of taste and flavor. Consumers tend to envisage pink goes with grapefruit and yellow goes with lemon. Moreover, color also has its say on the level of sweetness. Historically, color additives propel the color already present in the food and ensure uniformity in the food from batch to batch and season to season.

Natural food colors have historically been part of diet—their popularity has been soaring over the years. Some of the common natural colors incorporate, saffron, annatto, paprika, zinc oxide, beetroot and turmeric, namely. FDA has dubbed natural color additives as “exempt color additives” to allude that they are exempt from the certification process. Natural food color are less consistent, less stable and duller. Moreover, natural food colors may be vulnerable by the food matrix, vitamins, pH, flavors, salts and other aspects. Natural food colors may be prone to insecticides, bacteria, herbicides and other uncalled for trace metals.

Amid lingering problem, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Consumers tend to perceive natural food color as less of a health hazard and it adds a cachet to food products marketed as organic or natural.

Natural food colors are being refined, obtained and then added to the edible substances. A range of natural food colors are easily prepared at home. For instance, dark yellow and saffron color can be prepared by boiling saffron in water for approximately 10 minutes, deep red color can be extracted from beetroot, and red color can be extracted from carrot, and so on. When it comes to Asian spices, saffron and turmeric have been traditionally used in households for cooking everyday meals as they provide a compelling color to the food. This factor has influenced the natural food color market, to proliferate its demand far and wide.

The color of the food has been an imperative part of the culture and enjoyment of life. Who would decline the mouth-watering appeal of a deep-pink strawberry ice cream on a hot summer day?

Food Colors

Early Romanian civilization perceived that people eat with their eyes and plates. While butter has been colored yellow which dates back as far as 1300s, saffron and other spices have often been used to provide a rich and appealing color to myriad of foods. Cuisines prepared in appealing colors have significantly lured people of all quarters of the world—it is indispensable to preserve the natural or maintain the characteristic color of a food product.

Ever since there was FDA’s clampdown on PHOs (Partially hydrogenated Oils) by 2018, consumers are looking for alternatives to the uses of the trans-fat once possessed. Though PHO’s have been immensely useful in keeping food and oils fresh for longer time, the price costs arms and legs. Needless to say, artificial food coloring is receiving lot of flak for likely carcinogenic effects and also being artificial.

A decade ago, a study conducted by Lancet associated hyperactivity with artificial colors that triggered revolution in Europe which blew the cobweb away and people switched to natural food colors. Here are a few of the reasons to switch to natural food colors taking recent trends into considerations:

Health Benefits: The positive thing about natural food colors is that they have less risk to open the Pandora Box of carcinogenic or cardiovascular problems. No wonder, natural food colors are regarded as safe and healthy both in short run and long run. Contrast to the artificial colors that have potential negative mental impact on children, natural food colors provide scores of benefits.
Color Variety: Thanks to the research and development galore, natural food colors have a staggering amount of colors to choose from. Research for natural color from purple sweet potato has increased over the years. Potato color extract would lead to intense colors, color stability and wide color range.
Forms: Even though color is paramount, form in which the color takes is invaluable, too.

The contribution to the attractiveness and appearance of the foods is invaluable, partly due to the fact that people expect foods to have their own appearance and partly because color is pivotal in the perception of flavor.