Breakthrough in Natural Colours

A TERM used by food manufacturers and marketers increasingly use in product development conversations is "clean label". This trend is not related to food safety for consumers and has no legal distinction or definition, but "describes a trend to reduce the number of ingredients used in a food product, and to have the ingredient names be more pronounceable for the average consumer reading the label," according to David Schmidt.

Mr Schmidt, president and CEO of the International Food Information Council Foundation, addressed how this term relates to the consumer in a video interview for DDW's "Expert Answers" series.
Amongst such ingredients that are increasingly under scrutiny are food colours, and this is why products spanning from meat products to confectionery are using natural and even organic
colours.

Clean label "does not relate to the safety of a product as any ingredient or colour added to food must be deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration before it is added to a food product," Mr Schmidt also said.

No migration with natural reds
Many popular dairy products contain collared fruit-based layers or stripes. For these formulations, it is critical that the colourful appearance of the fruit preparation base remains stable and does not bleed colour into the white dairy phase. Coloured fruit preparation using LycoRed's new natural red colour line can create appealing colour effects in yoghurts, smoothies and desserts.

The colours are extracted from carotenoids, which are widely recognised as healthful alternatives to synthetic colorants due to their natural antioxidants benefits. Based on both tomato lycopene and natural beta-carotene, the natural, vegetarian red and orange colours have non-migrating properties. "Stability during processing and throughout shelf life is one of the main issues the food industry faces when using natural colours," said Roee Nir, Colour and Flavour global commercial manager for LycoRed.

Formulation challenges can relate to stability to pH, light, temperature and oxidative degradation, as well as to interactions with other ingredients. "LycoRed has overcome these problems to produce natural carotenoid-based formulations delivering vibrant, stable natural food colours. The colours are created using a patented technology that is fully compliant with kosher and halal laws," Mr Nir said. LycoRed exhaustively tested the new colour line at its own high-tech laboratories as well as at leading fruit preparation producers and dairy company facilities. The results show an outstanding stable product with clear, sharp-collared layers and without any bleeding or migration.

Tomat-O-Red formulations are based on tomato lycopene and offer a completely stable, natural colour, with processing parameters of prolonged high temperature, light exposure and pH and with no adverse reaction to Vitamin C, making it an ideal colorant for red fruit preparations.

"Our natural lycopene line is approved for use as colorant in food by EC directive 2011/3/EU, as well as FDA regulations as a non-certifiable colour additive - 21 CFR 73.95," Mr Nir said.

Lyc-O-Beta formulations from natural beta-carotene are produced by the same patented technology applied to tomato lycopene. The line provides complementary orange to yellow shades to support a full range of fruit preparations used in the dairy industry.

Organic annatto powder

Certified organic annatto extract in powdered form provides a yellow-orange shade in dry mixes. The new product is a portfolio extension to D.D. Williamson's certified organic annatto extracts available in liquid form – water soluble, oil soluble, and oil soluble suspension.

"The dry colouring form gives food product developers an addition to their organic ingredient toolkit," said Jody Renner-Nantz, DDW applications scientist.

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