Jill Frank has been a food industry expert for Prospector since January of 2013. Jill serves as a consultant to all departments and monitors food industry trends and regulatory changes around the world. Her articles on these topics provide timely and relevant information for Prospector’s food industry members. In addition, Jill has played an integral role in optimizing and reorganizing the categorization of food ingredients within the Prospector search engine. Her efforts help to provide an enhanced user experience that is customized to meet the needs of R&D professionals in the food, beverage and nutrition industry.
Food Color
Food colorings give colors to food to produce deliciousness and pleasantness. They have effects of inhibiting changes in food color tones and compensating for the loss or fading of color which happens during the manufacturing process and/or during storage to keep color tones. Glico Nutrition has a diverse lineup available for different purposes.
■Monascus Color
Monascus color is a red pigment produced by Monascus. Monascus has been used by humans since ancient times, like Koji mold used to make sake, miso, and soy sauce in Japan.
Our MONAS COLOR series is a liquid or powder product made by producing Monascus integratedly, extracting produced pigments with alcohol, concentrating and purifying them, and then adjusting chromaticity.
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| MONAS COLOR 1000P (powder) |
Color: bright red Highly concentrated in powder form. |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
■Beet Red
Beet Red is a pigment extracted from beet root. It can be labeled as “vegetable color.” It has a bright pink color in the acidic to neutral range.
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| BEET COLOR 750P (powder) |
Color: vivid pink Stable in acidic to neutral. |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
■Cochineal Extract
Cochineal color is an anthraquinone red pigment extracted from cochineal insects found on cacti, and its main ingredient is carminic acid. In South America, it has been used for clothing and decoration since the time of the Inca Empire, and is also used to color Campari (liquor).
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| COCHINEAL COLOR RC (powder) |
Color: bright pink Excellent light and heat resistant. |
| COCHINEAL COLOR CW (powder) |
Color: peach red Suitable for coloring kamaboko (fish paste). |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
■Lac Color
Lac color is an anthraquinone red pigment mainly composed of laccainic acid. It is extracted from a resinous substance secreted by female lac insects.
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| LAC COLOR RL (powder) |
Color: reddish purple Excellent light and heat resistant. |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
■Red-Coloring Formulation
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| CREATION COLOR ALM (powder) |
Color: orange-red Harder to discolor than monascus color. Suitable for coloring crab-flavor kamaboko (fish paste). |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
■Paprika Oleoresin
Paprika color is an orange-red carotenoid pigment extracted from solanaceous paprika fruits with oil or organic solvent. Its main component is capsanthin. It is one of the most popular vegetable-derived colorings and is used in many products.
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| PAPRIKA COLOR 1400P (powder) |
Color: reddish orange Water-dispersible. Concentration: 20,000 CV |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
Yellow Colorings
■Gardenia Yellow
Gardenia yellow color is a water-soluble (rare among natural pigments) carotenoid pigment extracted from rubiaceous gardenia fruits. The color is bright yellow and will be brighter in the alkaline range, but changes little according to the change in pH level.
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| KUCHINA COLOR 400PS (powder) |
Color: bright yellow Highly purified. Almost unaffected in color by enzymes. |
| KUCHINA COLOR 400P (powder) |
Color: bright lemon yellow in the alkaline range Suitable for coloring Chinese noodles. |
| KUCHINA COLOR 500GS (granular) |
Color: bright yellow Highly purified. Almost unaffected in color by enzymes. Water-soluble. |
| KUCHINA COLOR 750GS (granular) |
Color: bright yellow 1.6 times more concentrated than KUCHINA COLOR 500GS. |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
■Carthamus Yellow
Carthamus color is a yellow pigment extracted from asteraceous safflower flowers. Its main component is safflower yellow, a chalcone. It exhibits excellent acid and light resistance in the acidic range.
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| BENIBANA YELLOW AP (powder) |
Color: bright yellow Excellent acid and light resistance in the acid range. Water-soluble. |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
Blue Colorings
■Gardenia Blue
Gardenia blue color is a blue colorant obtained by adding β-glucosidase to a mixture of iridoid glycosides contained in gardenia fruit extract, and protein degradation products.
| Product | Features |
|---|---|
| KUCHINA BLUE COLOR 1250P (powder) |
Color: bright blue Excellent heat and light resistance. |
* The color tone may differ from the actual one.
Beetroot Overview:
Beetroot extracts contain roughly 0.5-1% of an intense red pigment called betanin (EU). The extract also contains a small quantity of a yellow pigment called vulgaxanthin. Beet extract is often used at a high level within formulas compared to other food colors, but even at high formula levels the extracts don’t change product flavor. For example, beetroot extract is successfully used in ice cream (EU) formulas as high as 0.5%.
To manufacture this water-soluble coloring, the beet roots are pressed or diffused at a low pH, ultrafiltered to concentrate, and pasteurized. The juice can be spray-dried onto a carrier like maltodextrin (EU) where the final betanin percentage is about 0.3-0.5%.
Achieving Consistent Color:
Beets are a natural ingredient, so the shade can vary based on crop conditions. Specifications for beetroot often include the ratio of betanin (red) and vulgxanthin (yellow). The color of beet juice changes as the extract ages and the blue notes within the extract diminish leaving a brighter more pink color. When sourcing a beet extract for color work closely with your vendor to ensure that the color purchased is consistent between each batch over the year. As many consumers equate consistency with quality, you will need to understand the potential differences within the range of color achieved with your beetroot extract source.
Betanin provides a fairly stable color in typical food pH (EU) conditions. At a pH of 4 the expected color will be a bluish-red which will become more blue-violet as the pH increases above 5. However, as the pH becomes alkaline, above 7.5, the red family of hues is degraded by hydrolysis resulting in a yellow-brown color.
Challenge – Oxygen
In high moisture products or in liquid form, betanin degrades in the presence of oxygen. Often this can be overcome by protecting the food from oxidation by including antioxidants, sequestrates and/or using modified atmosphere packaging. As a dry product betanin is more stable, but for optimal shelf life limiting oxygen exposure is ideal.
While consumers like to see food products, putting your beetroot colored food in a clear package will result in an unstable red color over time. To keep the red color over shelf life choose packaging that protects the product from light, whether that is an opaque or dark packaging. Or, change the shelf life requirements to account for the color loss within the conditions of your distribution system.
