Handbook on Natural Pigments in Food and Beverages

Industrial Applications for Improving Food Color

Reinhold Carle, Ralf Schweiggert

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9780081003923
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Handbook on Natural Pigments: Industrial Applications for Improving Food Colour is unique in its approach to the improvement of food colors. The book is written with industrial applications in mind, with each chapter focusing on a color solution for a specific commodity that will provide food scientists with a one-stop, comprehensive reference on how to improve the color of a particular food product.The first section of the book looks at the legal frameworks which underpin natural food colorings, also investigating the consumer expectations of food color. The second section of the book focuses on specific industrial applications of natural colorants with chapters covering the use of natural colorants in aqueous food products, cereal-based foods, and meat products, amongst many other topics.The various pigments which can be used to effectively color these commodities are presented with information on safety and testing included throughout. The final section in the book looks at recent developments and future perspectives in natural food colorings. There are chapters which cover the health benefits of natural pigments, the use of novel fruits and vegetables in pigments, and stable natural solutions for blue colorings.- Presents recent advances in consumer demand and worldwide legislation regarding natural food colorants- Discusses the use of natural food colorants for one specific product category per chapter rather than one pigment class per chapter – this makes the book extremely useable for industrialists working in a specific sector- Contains a comprehensive array of product-specific coloration approaches, from using pigment-enriched feed additives to the direct addition of color formulations

Part One

Consumer Expectations and Legal Framework of Food Colorants

Outline

1. Food Color and Coloring Food: Quality, Differentiation and Regulatory Requirements in the European Union and the United States

2. The Psychological Effects of Food Colors

1

Food Color and Coloring Food

Quality, Differentiation and Regulatory Requirements in the European Union and the United States

E. Stich GNT Group, Mierlo, Netherlands

Abstract

Throughout human history, food color has been a key trait of sensory quality evaluation. With the advent of processed food, food coloring has gained even more importance. According to consumers’ belief, food coloring should be as natural as possible; however, there is actually no standard regarding the “naturalness” of food coloring. Furthermore, “natural” does not necessarily mean “edible.” There are various options for food coloring, ranging from the addition of intensely colored food to coloration by synthetic (“artificial”) dyes. The use of “coloring food” offers the most natural way to “color food with food.” Legislation on the coloring and subsequent labeling of food is fundamentally different in the European Union and the United States. In the European Union, the guidance notes give guidance to differentiate “coloring food” from coloring additives by defining a borderline between selective and nonselective extraction through the calculation of enrichment factors and threshold values. In contrast, according to US regulations, it does not matter whether the coloring material represents a food or not. In this chapter, fundamentals for understanding EU and US legislation, including detailed examples, are presented. In addition, the limitations of the present regulations regarding consumers’ expectations and future perspectives are discussed.

Keywords

Coloring food; Coloring principles; Decision tree; Enrichment factor; Food color; Guidance notes; Natural color; Nonselective; Selective extraction; Threshold value

1. Introduction

1.1. Why Color Food? A Historic Overview

Very few aspects of our environment play a more important role in conveying information than color. Awareness of color is deeply engrained in our genes. Since the dawn of humankind and even with human’s remote ancestors, a correct judgment of the color of (potential) food could mean the difference between life and death: color is essential in identifying ripe fruits or in avoiding toxic or spoiled food (Burrows, 2009). It is little wonder that the importance attached to the color of food has survived into the modern world. It is often said that we eat with our eyes; thus, it is doubtlessly true that visual perception, especially with regard to color, is by far the most important factor in our judgment of the quality of food laid before us.

It is equally obvious that suppliers of food should utilize color as a way of making food look as appealing as possible. The coloring of wine can be traced back to 400 BC, while candy was colored even as far back as the ancient Egyptians (Downham and Collins, 2000). Until the middle of the 19th century, the only means available to add color to food was what was readily supplied by nature. Most commonly, spices and other colorful raw materials such as flowers, minerals, and wood were used to enhance the visual attractiveness of meals. Saffron has long been used to give a yellow hue to rice—this was judged important to the point that one of the first European food laws drawn up in Augsburg in 1531 stipulated that those guilty of adulterations of saffron (eg, by the much cheaper turmeric) were to be burned at the stake (Arlt, 2011). Other popular colorants have included paprika, beet extract, and petals of various flowers (Burrows, 2009). Even animal-derived colorings were used, such as the orange-red carminic acid from cochineal insects (Dactylopius coccus) or the squid ink used to give pasta a black appearance.

In the past, the vast majority of people were too poor to be very discerning with regard to the appearance of their food. Therefore, the use of food coloring was limited to food for the privileged, wealthy members of the population. However, that all changed rapidly and dramatically with the advent of industrialization. With urbanization rampant, the working class no longer typically produced food for their own use. Food needed to be produced in significantly larger quantities, with vastly improved preservation. The era of processed food had started (Downham and Collins, 2000), also marking the beginning of industrial food coloring. Among the first major tasks was postprocessing restoration of the original color; the emerging food industry resorted to mineral- and metal-based compounds—many of which we now know to be harmful. Cutthroat competition between food companies entailed the use of toxic heavy metal salts such as red lead, vermillion, or copper arsenate as well as other compounds containing inorganic elements. These colors were found to be low-cost solutions for disguising low-quality food, such as when it came to “restoring” the color of milk that had been liberally watered down (Arlt, 2011). This health-threatening situation could not endure, so the end of the 19th century saw the first modern-era food legislation in several individual countries to protect the populace—first and foremost banning heavy metal salts.

Meanwhile, as early as 1856, the first synthetic dyestuff mauveine (also known as aniline purple) was discovered, entailing a succession of coal tar colorants that found applications in textiles, as well as the food and the cosmetics industry. They were called coal tar colorants because aromatic precursor chemicals needed for chemical synthesis (eg, aniline) were initially derived from coal tar (Filarowski, 2010). Soon, the market was awash with hundreds of synthetic coloring agents, several of which were intended for textiles rather than for food. However, by the end of the 19th century, color additives had spread unmonitored throughout the United States and Europe, even being used to enhance the looks of such popular foodstuffs as ketchup, mustard, jellies, and wine (Downham and Collins, 2000). Very few, if any, of them had actually been tested for toxicity or other adverse effects.

While coloring agents from natural sources remained in use in the early 20th century, the need for cost reduction led to them rapidly being phased out. Chemically synthesized alternatives were found to be easier to produce, less costly, and superior in coloring properties. Only tiny quantities were needed; they blended easily and imparted no undesired flavors to the food (Downham and Collins, 2000). There was obviously a downside to this: these artificial colorings could, without being detected through olfaction or gustation, be used in substantial quantities to more effectively disguise poor food quality or even imitate food with nonfood ingredients, essentially misleading the buyer (Downham and Collins, 2000). It soon became obvious that overuse of untested additives turned into a major health hazard, and safety concerns grew (McAvoy, 2014).

The first laws regarding the use of coloring agents for food followed the basic principle of negative listing; that is, they listed the substances not allowed for use in food. However, their objective was the same as in legislation today: protection of consumers. Developments were rapid from there on. The progress made in chemical analysis and the development of methodology for identifying toxic effects of substances led to negative lists being replaced by lists of substances found—according to the knowledge of the day—to be safe for the production and improvement of foodstuffs. This basic principle of positive listing is still the basis of modern legislation: substances intended for consumption by humans have been tested for safety and are required to meet certain specifications prior to any and all approval by competent authorities (Arlt, 2011).

Soon, certification procedures were established in order to specify coloring agents as well as tolerable levels of impurities, conditions for use, and maximum quantities for specific categories of food. These developments led to a multitude of regulations worldwide—for one, the number of artificial coloring agents declared safe for use in food saw a significant decline with time.

Fraud, however, was not a thing of the past. Consumers have been well aware of this and their skepticism toward color additives in food has been reinforced by ongoing negative items in the press on the subject of food coloring and its effects on human health. The last 30 years especially have seen growing awareness of food ingredients and increasing demand for food to be as “natural” as possible (Downham and Collins, 2000).

1.2. Why Color Food? The Situation Today

To date, color is as important an attribute in food as ever—especially in a world where, in the last half century, the proportion of processed food has grown exponentially. This does nothing but reflect changes in...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Related titles
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of Contributors
• Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition
• Preface
• Part One. Consumer Expectations and Legal Framework of Food Colorants
• Part Two. General Considerations About Pigment Stability
• Part Three. Specific Industrial Applications of Natural Colorants
• Part Four. Recent Developments and Future Perspectives
• Index