Over the last five years, the U.S. market for natural colors has increased, says Stephen Lauro, colorMaker, Inc., Anaheim, CA. “Where natural colors were often relegated to ‘natural products’ sold through health stores, now natural colors can be found in breakfast cereals and vitamin waters, snack foods and nutritional bars, hand creams and pet foods,” he says. “As the consumer demand for wholesome and healthful foods grows, so does the use of natural colors.”
A number of reasons exist for this shift. “With the results of the Southampton study (see sidebar, “Southampton Stirs Up Color Controversy”) linking certain artificial colors to hyperactivity in children, many people use natural colors as a way to avoid these products,” says Jeannette O’Brien, GNT USA, Inc., Tarrytown, NY.
But, we’re trending toward more-natural ingredients in general. “Using fruit- and vegetable-based colors also allows people to sell their products in different markets, such as a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, supermarkets with strict requirements on the ingredients allowed in their stores,” says O’Brien. They also “may be used in products that are organic-certified or made with organic ingredients, or as a kosher replacement for carmine/cochineal or grape skin, two colors which are typically not kosher-certified,” she says.
Natural shadings
No legal “natural colors” exist, per FDA, only color additives exempt from certification listed in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 74; these primarily start with mineral, plant or animal sources. While these are usually thought of as natural, not all exempt colorants are naturally derived. For example, most beta-carotene, although chemically “nature-identical,” is made synthetically.
Also, coloring agents derived from natural sources can be processed with solvents or other ingredients, synthetically preserved, or can contain incidental GRAS additives (21 CFR Pt. 101 Sec. 10) such as emulsifiers. Caramel color, for example, can be highly processed. However, Class I, or “plain,” caramel colors are considered the most natural, says Brian Sethness, president, Sethness Products Co., Lincolnwood, IL. These are produced by heating high-dextrose corn syrup, fructose or sucrose, without adding ammonia or sulfite reactants during the process.
While some exempt colors are decidedly not natural-sounding, such as titanium dioxide, others have different drawbacks. Cochineal extract and carmine, derived from the insect Dactylopius coccus, not only suffer from bug-related “ick” factors and dietary restrictions, but also require declaration by name on the food label, per FDA, because some people may have severe allergic reactions to them.
Working in natural color
Natural colors provide clean labels, and can contribute nutrition. “The biggest advantage to natural colors is the clean-label declaration,” says Thierry Jones, general manager—North America, Diana Naturals, Valley Cottage, NY. “This is becoming a more-important trend, particularly in Europe, although the U.S. industry is now beginning to understand natural colors, as well.”
They can also contribute to nutrition labels. “For example, carotenoids—yellow, orange or red pigments—and anthocyanins—red, purple-red pigments—provide significant antioxidant benefits,” notes Jones. “These micronutrients are the same as the ones used as nutritional fortificants, and, depending on the dosage, a natural color may also provide a nutritional claim.”
However, natural colors can be more difficult to work with. They tend to be more expensive than their artificial counterparts and can lack color intensity. On the other hand, “people use natural colors to obtain a color shade not achievable with other ingredients,” says O’Brien. “Fruit- and vegetable-based colors provide the finished application with a more-natural, realistic look to the product as opposed to the neon shades obtained using artificial colors.”
Stability of many plant-derived colors can create formulation problems. Fortunately, manufacturers have improved and optimized the stability in various applications. “Because natural colors are extracted from natural sources, the actual raw materials are very critical,” says Madkins. Factors such as the region, the climate, the environment and the cultivar all impact the colors’ shade, strength and overall stability in the final application.
Matching the proper application to the color is a must. Anthocyanin-based colors (elderberry, black carrot, red cabbage, aronia, grape, etc.) are pink to red shades in acidic environments, but shift to blue or purple at a neutral pH. Paprika extract, however, which owes its reddish hue to carotenoids, is stable through a 2 to 10 pH range, but not to light. “Special packaging is needed for any color that is specifically light sensitive,” says Madkins. “Turmeric, in its emulsified form, is not very light-stable, and thus, opaque packaging should be utilized,” unless using a microencapsulated form “that is completely light-stable.”
Madkins also mentions techniques, such as emulsification or encapsulation, that can enhance or extend natural-color stability. “We do not want to alter or change the natural color in any way, so these are the types of formulation concepts that would most likely be utilized, “he says. “We also are looking at ways in which the stability can be further enhanced by taking advantage of physical interactions of the color with other colors or with some ingredient in the finished product. A perfect example of this is the fact that annatto binds to the protein in cheese and does not wash away with the whey. This makes annatto the most-suitable colorant, natural or synthetic, to color cheese, as well as provides a very stable finished product and desirable shade in the end.” New sources of natural colors can provide additional benefits, including new shades, improved performance and increased stability, he adds.
However, “increased shelf-stability of natural colors is generally not universal, but rather dependent upon the requirements of a specific application,” Lauro points out, “hence, the increased market penetration of natural colors over the past five years. Improved blending of naturally derived colorants to maximize attributes helps to improve stability compared to using a straight―single―natural colorant.”
Southampton Stirs Up Color Controversy
The hue and cry against artificial colors ratcheted up a notch with the “Southampton Study” (McCann, D. et al, “Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial,” The Lancet, published online Sept. 6, 2007 (DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61306-3). The study examined the effects of tartrazine, sunset yellow, and carmoisine and ponceau 4R (both banned in the United States), plus sodium benzoate on 153 children in the two age groups.
Some were given a mixture of all four colorings, a second group was given the four-color mixture, plus sodium benzozte, while the third group received a placebo. Researchers said the older children showed a “signficantly adverse effect” from both mixes, but the adverse reaction of 3-year-olds was rated significant only for the first mix.
Paul Illing, a toxicologist and fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London, said in an Associated Press report about the study that it “shows some statistical associations, (but) it is not a demonstration of cause and effect,” and that the connection needed further study. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C., has formally petitioned FDA to require a warning label on foods that contain any of the eight approved artificial FD&C colors and has considered requesting a ban on the colors.