Color can stimulate appetite and, in many foods, it signals intense flavor and quality—or its lack thereof. Freshness, ripeness, degree of cook, nutritional value and “richness,” or conversely, oxidation and spoilage, all have color cues. The food industry uses certified (artificial) and “exempt” (natural) colorants to meet consumer expectations, enhance their products, and maintain consistency in the face of seasonal and regional variability of the natural ingredients.
“Colors can be used in many ways: to enhance the appeal of a product, to replace more-expensive ingredients, or to replace ingredients that are in short supply,” says a spokesperson from the Color Group of Sensient Technologies Corporation, St. Louis. “Clear targets, in terms of targeted shade, cost-in-use, etc., are a must.”
Colorful choices
To create the highest quality and provide value, product designers must ensure proper colorant use. Byron D. Madkins, director, food and beverage development and applications—color, Chr. Hansen, Milwaukee, offers the following advice: “It is critical to ensure that you have the best color shade for the finished product to match the flavor profile and/or target market. This will make the product most marketable.”
In addition to the desired shade, currently one of the top considerations is natural vs. artificial. However, ingredient format, stability and cost-in-use deserve equal scrutiny. Throughout much of modern food processing, artificial colors were widely used because of: their intensity, which required smaller quantities; low price; superior stability and uniformity; lack of flavor; and ability to easily blend together to create a wide range of hues. But the last several years have seen an increasing demand for natural products, including colors. With increasing demand came better technology, resulting in products with improved characteristics in terms of stability, ease of use and price.
If label and marketing considerations demand natural colors, the choice is moot. But, “typically, synthetic colors are less expensive than natural colors,” says the Sensient spokesperson. “However, the relative cost of any color is usually a very small percentage of the overall product cost. Additionally, there are certain shades in certain applications that are easier to achieve with natural colors.”
For example, “any time you see a brownish-red to golden-yellow to brown color, caramel color is going to perform well, as well as be very cost-effective,” says David Tuescher, assistant technical director, Sethness Products Company, Clinton, IA.
Coloring your world
Technically speaking, “the most important consideration is to be certain that the color system that has been selected or recommended will be stable in the finished product, both during processing and for the desired shelf life for the product,” says Madkins.
“Colors that are not stable for a given application, that break down or change in the processing of the food, or degrade over the product shelf life due to light, heat or chemical interactions, cause you to possibly use more than would be needed with a more-stable color option and/or even make your product less marketable—unattractive or unappealing—on the store shelf,” continues Madkins.
Many factors negatively impact colors and should be avoided, says Jeff Greaves, president, Food Ingredient Solutions LLC, Teterboro, NJ, “including high levels of vitamin C, high levels of positive metal ions, or using a dye in a pigment application. For anthocyanin colors—purple sweet potato, grape, red cabbage, radish, elderberry, black carrot—pH should be as low as possible, as slight increases require much more color to be used.”
Order of addition can also be a significant factor. For instance, “there are good and bad ways to add caramel color,” says Tuescher. “For example, if you are using flour, if you first mix the color and the flour, you get better distribution, so you are using your colors more effectively.”