FOOD DYES
Food dyes also called food colouring which is to add colour to the food items. Additionally,
a particular colour is added to the selected food item as desired and thus also called food
additives.
In the present population, consumers are seeking good ingredients in food items.
Colour is one of the important ingredients where the quality and flavour of the food are
identified.
Food dyes are of many types like liquids, gels, fine powdery, and paste.
Food colourants are used in other applications like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics etc which
may show variety in shades and colours of the composition.
Food colours contain certain flavours so that the particular food item will be having the
same flavour. For example, adding candy to wine will be having the flavour of candy while
consuming wine.
The main aim to add food colourant to the food are as follows:
- To make the food look more attractive
- To make it more appetizing
- To correct the natural form of the food item
- To prevent loss of colour due to exposure to light and temperature.
- To add colour to the colourless food items.
- To improve nutritional value, taste and texture
CATEGORIES OF FOOD DYES:
Natural colours: These are the pigments made by living organisms.
Ex: Carrot, Beetroot extracts etc.,
Nature Identical colours: These are man-made pigments, which are seen in nature.
Ex: Betacarotene, Canthaxanthin
Artificial colours: These are purely man-made colours.
Ex: Alura Red, Brilliant Blue
These colours are mostly used in a sweets shops, bakeries, confectionaries, Ice cream factories, Crop foods containing fresh fruits and vegetables, Wine industries etc.
TYPES OF FOOD DYES:
There are 4 kinds of food dyes - Liquid, Gel, Powdery, and Natural form.
A natural form of food color is a dye or pigment which is added to the food products enhancing its therapeutic and medicinal properties in it. Natural food dyes are obtained from the seeds, vegetables, fruit extracts, flowers, insects and sometimes it is also obtained from algae forms. Since it is in a biological form, it is also called Bio colours. Replacement of artificial food colours with that of the natural forms are tabulated in the table below:
|
COLOURS
|
Artificial Colours
|
Natural Forms
|
|
Yellow
Orange
Red
Blue
Green
|
Sunset
Yellow
Sunset
Yellow
Allura Red
Indigotine
Blue
Fast Green
|
Turmeric,
Beta carotene
Beta
carotene
Beetroot,
Anthocyanin
Anthocyanin
Chlorophylls,
Chlorophillins.
|
Synthetic colours are the colours that are produced artificially derived from coal tar.
Recently the most used synthetic colours are manufactured from petroleum and crude
oil. Ex: Triarylmethane, Xanthene, Indigold.
- Some of the blue synthetic food colourants are as follows:
Brilliant Blue - used in beverages, candies, jellies, syrups
Indigo Carmine - used in ice creams, sweets, confectionery items, biscuits
Patent Blue - used in eggs and jelly sweets
- Red to orange food colourants are
Amaranth - used in beverages, alcoholic drinks
Carmoisine - used in Swiss rolls, jams, jellies
Erythrosine - used in cocktails
Ponceau - Used in sweets, jellies
Red 2G - Used in meat products and confectionaries
- Yellow synthetic food colourants:
Quinoline Yellow - used in fruits and vegetable juices
Sunset Yellow - used in Non - Alcoholic drinks, sweets, jellies
Tartrazine - used in sweets and jellies
LIMITATIONS OF NATURAL FOOD COLOUR:
Some forms of natural products will be having their own flavours which may affect the taste of the final product. Ex: Turmeric
Actual colour is lost due to exposure to high temperatures like in the grape juice extract.
Cochineal extract, Annatto can cause allergic reactions to some consumers.
In some food dyes, natural food colours are quite expensive when compared with artificial food colours. Ex: Saffron
At times, raw ingredients remain scarce.
In Cochineal extract, the requirements are needed in large amounts when compared with artificial dyes.
The main objective of adding food colours to the product is to make it look attractive to the consumers which influence the consumer to buy the product.The demand for natural dyes is increasing worldwide due to increased awareness to the people related to the health and found that synthetic colours are toxic.
The limitations to the use of natural food colourants are having higher costs and the stability is low in the food processing procedures, formulation and storage conditions.
Synthetic food colours can cause carcinogenicity, toxicity, allergenicity and also many more adverse effects on human health when consumption of the product is high. There is a need for the development of the pharmaceutical industry to formulate natural, safe, environmentally friendly plant and animal pigments.
GOOD FOOD CHOICES ARE GOOD INVESTMENTS!!!
blog article by Shravya.T
MSc - Clinical Nutrition II year.
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