The chance synthetic dyes will be out of the US food supply by the end of 2026—the stated aim of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr—is “close to zero” given that his pledges lack regulatory teeth, ex-FDA official Jim Jones told delegates at a recent industry event.
However, his relentless bashing of the dyes in the media has focused minds on natural alternatives.
So can they deliver the kind of performance brands are looking for, especially in challenging applications such as candies and high-temperature baking?
According to the USDA Branded Foods Database, thousands of foods sold in the US contain synthetic dyes, including high-profile brands from M&Ms and MTN Dew to Cap’n Crunch, SunnyD and Fanta.
Red 40 is the most widely used, appearing in everything from beverages to candy, gelatin desserts, pastries, sausage, and some pet foods, followed by Yellow 5, which is used in beverages, gelatin desserts, candy, and baked goods, and Yellow 6, which is used in beverages, candy, and baked goods.
Key applications for synthetic dyes include sports drinks, which present particular challenges for natural colors as they can be highly pH sensitive (greens can degrade in acidic conditions, for example, while anthocyanins change color in different pH environments).
They can also lose vibrancy during pasteurization or hot-fill bottling; become unstable when exposed to light; and interact with electrolytes, vitamins, or preservatives, leading to precipitation, color fading, or off-flavors.
Another popular category for synthetic colors is cereals, which can present issues for natural colors if they are extruded or baked at high temperatures, as anthocyanins, betalains, and carotenoids can degrade when exposed to high heat.
Overall, natural colors can present challenges around stability, consistency, vibrancy, and intensity, says Emma Goodman (EG), senior director, colors, at global agricultural processing and commodities trading company ADM, a leading supplier of ‘colors from nature.’ But technical advances have yielded meaningful improvements in recent years, she tells AgFunderNews (AFN).
AFN: Which food applications present the biggest technical challenges for natural colors?
EG: Beverages are some of the trickiest applications for formulators to work with due to factors such as pH and high heat, both of which can affect the stability of naturally derived color solutions. Similarly, bringing vibrancy for an appealing sensory experience to cereals and baked goods can be challenging to achieve with naturally-derived colors.
Prolonged exposure to baking at high-temperatures can also impact the intensity and stability of some chromophores [molecules which absorb light at a particular wavelength and reflect color].
Certain colors can also bleed or create stains. For example, bright natural red frosting might bleed into a soft, light-in-color vanilla cake. Ensuring colors do not bleed or blend together is also crucial for various products like swirled candies or yogurts with fruit on the bottom.
AFN: Can you highlight some areas where significant progress has been made on improving performance, especially for vibrant red and pink shades?
EG: Patented micronization technology enables our color solutions to have unique plating characteristics. Plating ensures color uniformity and mitigates flashing, streaking and bleeding in powders, mixes, liquids and more.
Additionally, our patented emulsion system is critical to developing heat-, light- and acid-stable colors that do not bleed or blend together. This system also helps prevent the potential staining of food and beverage packaging, and manufacturing equipment.
Moreover, our deodorization and masking technologies, along with our patented extraction technology, help provide shades that do not produce undesirable flavors or aromas, while our extraction technology removes starches, sugars and proteins to ensure our colors can withstand tough formulation environments.
These technologies are important for our highly stable red shades, which support alternatives to FD&C red #3 (Erythrosine) and red #40 (Allura Red AC) by leveraging a diverse range of raw materials including black carrot, purple sweet potato, red beet and many more, to deliver hot pink, reddish-pink, red blush, red violet, deep red, and true red.
AFN: What options do you have for blue and white shades?
EG: We tap our PearlEdge line of patent-pending and proprietary whitening solutions as a replacement for titanium dioxide (TiO2), delivering whitening, opacity and cloud capabilities in a variety of applications.
We have also filled a significant industry gap: a naturally derived blue color that does not shift in shade in any pH systems. Harvested from the Amazonian huito fruit, our patented fruit juice blue is an exceptional naturally derived color solution because it remains stable across beverages and foods, and even pet food applications.
Our fruit juice blue delivers a true-blue hue in low-, mid-, neutral pH and anything in between, answering a crucial need for product developers looking to use a naturally derived blue. It is also extremely light- and heat-stable, as well as acid-stable, supporting the creation of blue shades, along with purples, greens and caramel-free browns.
Further reading:
Fermentation will power next wave of natural colors say startups as FDA targets synthetic food dyes
