‘We eat first with our eyes’ – and the saying is all the more true in an age of social media. But color is not just about good looks: it’s also about meeting consumer demands for natural and sustainable alternatives. We take a look at some of the latest...
After nearly two decades of research an international team claims to have found a naturally derived cyan blue colour extracted from red cabbage that could replace synthetic blue dye often used in the food industry.
Move over millennial pink, because shades of sunshine are expected to be the color of choice for food and beverage manufacturers in 2019 driven by consumers seeking to enhance their mood through food, according to global colorings company GNT Group.
Ingredients group Chr. Hansen is extending its patented encapsulation technology to increase the stability of beta-carotene colour pigments for use in beverage products.
Chr. Hansen is pushing back the boundaries of ‘natural’ ingredients and expanding its range of colouring foodstuffs to help food and beverage manufacturers take clean labels to the next level.
Israeli supplier Lycored’s natural red, orange and pink colours remain stable in surimi for up to three months longer than carmine or paprika, it says.
Indian food company Roha Dyechem Pvt Ltd has created Natracol Ultra Cran Red (UCR), which it says capitalizes on the trend to move from synthetic dairy food colorants to natural ones.
Industry should look closer at nature’s solutions for current reformulation challenges by mapping out all the possible functionalities of ingredients already present in foods, says Dr Aidan Craigwood, consultant at Innovia Technology.
Colouring foods supplier GNT is set to double its product development capacity with an injection of more than €3m into a new R&D lab in Mierlo in the Netherlands.
Consumers are willing to pay a premium of nearly 50% for food and drink formulated with natural ingredients, according to a new survey commissioned by Lycored.
Colour and flavour supplier Sensient has widened its colouring food range with yellow and orange, bringing the number of EU-compliant products in its colouring foods range to three digits.
Coloring Foods supplier GNT says the global confectionery market will rapidly move away from artificial and additive colors as an implementation period to conform with EU rules on colors looms.
The use of ohmic heating technologies, which pass electrical currents through foods to heat them, could provide opportunities for the industrial scale production of natural food colourants, researchers have suggested.
Europe is the fastest growing market for food colourings driven by demand in natural and organic products, according to a new report from Grand View Research.
Wild Flavors has developed a natural color series that includes a blue derived from microalgae spirulina, giving confectioners a natural option for fruit flavors like blueberry.
Neocandenatone, a purple pigment found in the heartwood of Dalbergia congestiflora trees, could hold colorant possibilities for gummy and hard candies, according to Mexican research.
Barry Callebaut says chocolate makers can produce products in novel colors far easier with its new flower-shaped food colorant pellets compared to using high doses of powder and liquid dyes.
In many cases, it's no longer enough for a food colour to be natural: Increasingly companies are seeking colouring foodstuffs, concentrated from foods themselves. FoodNavigator explored the evolving natural colours sector at FIE in Frankfurt.
French ingredients firm Naturex claims to be the first supplier to offer natural blue spirulina coloring for lipophilic confectionery applications such as compound coatings.
DRINKTEC 2013: US TREND TOWARDS NATURAL BEVERAGE COLORS
Lycored claims its new Lyc-O-Beta Intense coloring system will bring significant cost savings for producers of beverages such as orange juice, and says US interest in such natural colors is growing.
An informal taste test with two dozen students conducted by colors expert DD Williamson underlines just how strongly our perceptions of flavor are influenced by color.
Synthetic colours may still be more prevalent than natural colours in foods and beverages, but natural is catching up as manufacturers increasingly look first to natural ingredients in developing new products – however, challenges remain.
Recent research shows that the color of beverage containers influences consumer enjoyment, with results indicating that orange and dark-cream colored cups enhanced the flavor, sweetness and aroma of hot chocolate.
The trend toward natural colours for foods, drinks and sweets is here to stay – but raises huge technical challenges, according to Steve Tolliday, principal product technologist at Nestlé’s Product and Technology Centre in York, UK.
Chr. Hansen says it has high hopes in Asia and elsewhere for its new natural coloring ingredient for beverages, Ultra Stable Red, and claims investing in natural colors strips out costs elsewhere in the supply chain.
Researchers have created a thin-film polymer metamaterial that can be incorporated inside packaging and that changes colour if the conditions inside the package alter.
Dairy manufacturers are the target of a new colour range from Israeli supplier LycoRed with red, yellow and orange shades derived from lycopene and natural beta-carotene that promise stability even in fortified yoghurt drinks.
Pectin isolated from sugar beet could boost industry use of natural blue colours by improving the formation and stability of blue hues from anthocyanins, say researchers.
Leading confectionery and ice-cream brand owners are switching to colouring foodstuffs over natural colours, as consumer demand for clean label products continues unabated, and retailers acknowledge the potential they hold in terms of brand value, claims...
A starter culture to tackle listeria and salmonella in salami and fermented sausage products was developed as a result of a major listeria meat product contamination in Canada, explained developer Chr. Hansen.
FMC Corporation has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Chilean natural colors and specialty ingredients firm South Pole Biogroup, as it looks to expand its food ingredients portfolio.
Marshmallow colour and flavour innovation and an extension of its red shade portfolio have been the focus of recent R&D work at natural ingredients producer Wild.
Paul Collins, managing director, GNT International, charts the growth in interest of clean-label natural fruit and vegetable-based colours “that use food to provide the colour to food”, as the industry moves away from chemical alternatives.
Food research group Leatherhead is in the final stages of a testing project on natural food colours, which it expects will provide clear guidance on the stability and shelf-life of the ingredients.
Nanoparticles containing beta-carotene could be used to naturally colour water-based foods, and offer an array of advantages, according to an innovation from the US.
At the IFT trade show in Anaheim, Jess Halliday followed the Flavor and Color Innovation trend tour, and spoke to some of the companies showing their latest developments at the show.
