LycoRed develops new tomato-derived red colours to replace carmine
Food manufacturers increasingly are looking for natural, vegetarian colours for food and beverage applications. According to recent Leatherhead data, global sales of natural colours overtook synthetics for the first time in 2011.
The company said the new colours in its Tomat-O-Red line provide a deeper red lycopene colour with blue backgrounds, much like cochineal-derived carmine colours.
“The increased demand from customers seeking to replace carmine encouraged us to extend our natural red colourants line and develop new formulations suitable for additional food applications, such as confectionary, dairy and beverages,” said Roee Nir, global commercial manager of Colour for LycoRed.
“By adding more formulations, we can provide food and beverage developers with a variety of options, so they can, in turn, expand product offerings to their customers.”
The new formulations are available in liquid form, and are stable across a range of pH levels, and ligh and temperature conditions.
“The drive to replace carmine is so intense, we had to develop natural colour solutions for a wide range of applications in a short period,” Nir said. “Our researchers developed colour solutions that effectively match carmine shades and characteristics, while demonstrating the high stability parameters formulators seek.”
