FOOD COLOURANT – MYTH, MISCONCEPTIONS, AND WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

Food colouring is big business for the food industry. We, humans, are influenced by the sight to decide if we eat food or not. We utilize colour to tell us what to expect in terms of flavour, nutrition, and safety. We do this when we buy fresh veggies from a market stall, ready meals from the mart, home kitchen, or at a five-star restaurant. Think about those times you impulsively bought crispy potatoes, plantain chips or a chilled colourful soda drink? We can go on and on to mention more. Why is the marketing of those products so successful? Why do they appeal so much to you? Why can’t you take your eyes off them?

The simple answer is FOOD COLOURANTS! 

WHAT ARE FOOD COLOURANTS

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defined food colourants as any pigment, dye, or chemical that, when applied or added to medicine, food, cosmetics, or the human body, is capable of giving colour (either through interactions with other substances or alone). Food colourants are broadly in the group of food additives. Food additives are chemicals or mixtures of one or two substances that are not a basic component of the food and are added to food to prevent spoilage, degradation, nutritional loss, reduction, or loss of aesthetic and functional characteristics. Food additives, such as food colourants and others, can either be direct or indirect depending on the purpose for which they are used, and their usage is strictly controlled to guarantee the safety of the food to which they are added.

TYPES OF FOOD COLOURANTS

Food colourants can be Natural or Synthetic. Natural food colourants were the first to be used in the Palaeolithic period, before the invention of synthetic food colourants. The majority of natural colourants are extracted from plant tissues. One is Saffron, stated in the Holy Bible, an orange-yellow dye derived from the stigma of the saffron plant. While Hennas, a reddish plant material prepared from the dried leaves of Lawsonia inernis, was used before 2500 BC. One prominent example of natural colourants is Anthocyanins which are red or blue. They are gotten from strawberries, grapes, etc. They are mainly used in beverages, confections, and fruit products. Others are Betacyanins which are mostly red and gotten from beetroot and can be used in dairy products. Carotenoids also are very important natural sources of food colourants. They can be yellow, orange, or red. They are gotten from annatto, saffron, paprika, carrot, etc. They are mostly used in dairy products, soups, margarine, etc.

Using Natural colourants ordinarily should be something to be happy about, but their usage has some limitations. Some of these limitations include; lack of consistent colour intensities, variability of supply, instability on exposure to heat and light and they react with food components. Another limitation of importance is that some of them are insoluble in water. Therefore, they must be added with an emulsifier for them to be evenly distributed in the food product.

These limitations of Natural colourants have given birth to the development of synthetic colourants. Synthetic food colours, often known as artificial food colours, are man-made food colourants produced by the chemical synthesis of organic coal tar. Synthetic colourants are widely utilized in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic sectors due to their great colouring ability, brightness, stability, application ease, uniformity, diversity of colour hues, and low cost, despite health and safety concerns. Water-soluble synthetic colourants are commercially available as powders, pastes, granules, or solutions. Sunset yellow, tartrazine, dazzling blue FCF, ponceau 4R, quick green, Allura red, and carmoisine are examples of synthetic colourants. They are more cost-effective for large-scale and industrial usage because they have a variety of colour shades easily accessible for use, they are inexpensive, the colours are brilliant, they have uniformity qualities, and they have a nice colour shade, which makes them more popular.

SAFETY CONCERNS REGARDING SYNTHETIC COLOURANTS

Artificial dyes are not without controversy, and some people are sceptical about them. After all, who wouldn’t be? Some studies have linked synthetic dyes to hyperactivity, behavioural changes, and Asthma in Kids. But, to allay your fears, all synthetic colourants have been subjected to thorough toxicity testing. Even though, Synthetic colourants are not accepted in all countries. For whatever it's worth, the FDA's list of seven authorized artificial food colourings is now "safe when used in compliance with FDA rules." Colour additives that have not been approved by the FDA may not be used in foods marketed to consumers. You can read these colourants HERE.

MAKING A CASE FOR NATURAL COLOURANTS?

According to a study by Carocho et. al., (2015), Natural food colourants are important for human fitness because they contain a few physiologically active chemicals with pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antiarthritic, antimutagenic, and antioxidant properties. Because Beta-carotene is a precursor to vitamin A, carotenoids are also utilized as dietary supplements. Carotene intake daily can help prevent nighttime blindness caused by a lack of vitamin A. Carotenoids also function as natural antioxidants, protecting cells and tissues from the harmful effects of free radicals and singlet oxygen, and as a good source of anticancer agents (Olas et. al., 2020). Other health advantages of natural colourants include increased immune system function, protection from sunburn, and prevention of the development of some types of cancer (Olas et. al., 2020).

Does that make Synthetic Colourants all bad? Definitely NOT. If you are deciding to go with synthetic colourants, always go for FDA-approved colourants and stay within the safety limits. But with the recent trends towards naturally made food products and more consumer’s awareness of their health, companies should move towards the use of natural colours. Even though you can hardly blame them for not using more of the natural colourants in the first instance due to their limitations. Now, this is a wake-up call to all researchers, what can we do to overcome the limitations of natural colourants and make them appealing for use to food companies! Let us discuss this in the comment section.

Ciao!

Author: Timileyin Oladayo

Graphics: Timileyin Oladayo

© Food and Agricultural Technology Unit - PARG 2021.

Edition 1, Volume 2, Article 2.