By Donna Berry, Contributing Editor
Consumers taste with their eyes before they eat with their mouths, which is why many product designers rely on color additives to make foods more visually appealing. Think Goldfish and Froot Loops. Even before the flavored, sweetened foods are tasted by a youngster for the first time, it’s their color that attracts.
Some health and nutrition advocates would prefer to see commercially prepared foods au naturel, much like home-prepared foods. After all, most consumers don’t use food colors at home, other than in the Spring for hard-boiled eggs or the occasional cupcake frosting.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Washington, D.C., believes food colors are used more often than not to make junk food attractive to young children, or to simulate the presence of a healthful fruit or other natural ingredient that is absent or in short supply. CSPI refers specifically to synthetic food colors, but the reality is that any food ingredient that contributes color can do the same.
“Most baked goods are measured, from a consumer value standpoint, by their visual appeal as much as any other variable, so color is a crucial aspect in defining and strengthening a brand," says Tom Tsimboukis, marketing director, Sensient U.S. Food Colors, St. Louis, MO. “Technically speaking, colors go hand in hand with ingredient connotations, from soft butter shades to egg yolk shades to brightly colored fillings and frostings."
Jessica Jones-Dille, senior manager, industry trends and market research, WILD Flavors, Inc., Erlanger, KY, says: “Color additives are used in baked goods for various reasons, including to help correct natural variations in the actual color of the product and for changes that may occur during processing and storage. Colors also make baked products more visually appealing, and they emphasize or identify flavors normally associated with various applications."
For example, consumers expect butter cookies to have a hue similar to a stick of butter. Of course, this is not possible because the butter is diluted by other ingredients in the cookie mix. Here’s where a little bit of a yellow color helps.
“Any cake other than white is typically colored to provide the appearance associated with the flavor," says Carol Locey, product director-colors, Kalsec, Inc., Kalamazoo, MI. “For instance, banana cake can be colored with a blend of annatto and turmeric, or with carrot extract, to provide a typical yellow hue. Orange cake can be colored with annatto. Even unflavored yellow cake typically is colored with blends of annatto and turmeric to enhance the appearance." Other typical bakery ingredients, including cinnamon, cocoa powder and vanilla, contribute some color to a baked good, but often not to the degree that it grabs the attention of a grocery shopper. Again, colors can help.
“Colors are added to bakery products to enhance or improve their visual appeal to consumers, or to control product consistency, minimizing color variation," says Byron Madkins, senior director, product development and applications, colors, Chr. Hansen, Inc., Milwaukee, WI. “Subtle colors are typically added to breads and crackers to provide shades from light-golden to deep-brown tones. But with bakery items, such as cakes, cookies and cupcakes, which are often a part of festive occasions, including birthday parties and holidays, bright, bold, vibrant colors provide eye appeal."
Understanding color additives
Bakers have an array of color additives from which to choose. The term “color additive" is legally defined by FDA in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 70. Color additives are not to be confused with colorants, which FDA defines in 21 CFR 178.3297 as a coloring substance used in packaging that does not migrate to the food, drug or cosmetic.
Further, FDA does not consider any color added to a food product to be “natural," no matter what the source. The exception is if the color is natural to the product itself, such as coloring cherry pie filling with cherry juice. Thus, an orange chiffon cake colored with annatto extract should not be labeled “all-natural orange chiffon cake." What is acceptable is “does not contain any synthetic colors."
Synthetic or not?
All color additives must be approved by FDA as food additives. They are then classified as “certified" or “exempt," with the former also considered synthetic or artificial.
Certified color additives typically are derived from coal or petroleum. Each batch of synthetic color must be certified by FDA, hence the name. Basically, the color manufacturer submits a sample of the production run to FDA, which in turn tests the sample for composition and purity. If the sample complies, FDA certifies the batch and issues a lot number, thereby releasing it for use in approved applications.
