Natural food and beverage colourings - Natural Food Additives, Ingredients and Flavourings - page 28

The powdered beetroot colour is often found in powdered instant desserts for
fi nal make-up by the consumer.
Beetroot has traditionally been one of the most cost-effective natural colours
and recent years have found its use expand as the pressure on carmine from
consumers and retailers increases. When carmine fi rst came under pressure,
beetroot was applied to some very challenging applications and was not suitable.
However these have been recently re-visited and, with close work between colour
company applications experts and the manufacturers, the technical issues have
been overcome. Such applications are pink biscuits, some confectionaries and
syrups for dilution into milk drinks.
It is also possible to formulate beetroot juice into oil-dispersible formats to
increase its range of use into fat-based fi llings and toppings. It is important to note
that these types of product are not truly oil-soluble and cannot be used to colour
liquid oils. They can also be susceptible to small amounts of water, which can
bring the beetroot out of the formulation into the oil giving rise to tiny red spots.

2.2.3 Annatto
Annatto is the name of the pigment extracted from the seed coating of a small
tropical tress, Bixa orellana . The tree is mainly cultivated and subsequently
annatto is produced in South America, East Africa, Ivory Coast, Dominican
Republic and India. Annatto seed contains typically 4.5-5.5% pigments, which
consist of 70-80% bixin. Traditionally the ground seeds have been used as a
condiment in Brazil, as a make-up and as a herbal medicine with a wide range of
postulated benefi ts. 5
There are two forms of annatto, which differ in their solubility. The water-
soluble form is called nor-bixin and the oil-soluble form bixin. Both forms start
from the resinous material that surrounds the annatto tree seed and different
methods of extraction give the different forms. Bixin is extracted with non-polar
solvents including vegetable oil and nor-bixin is extracted in the presence of an
alkali leading to the hydrolysis of bixin. However, in the European Union (EU)
both forms are treated the same within the colours legislation. 1
Although oil-soluble, bixin has a very low solubility in oil and is only available
in truly oil soluble formats at 0.1-0.3%. Oil-based bixin dispersions, which result
from milling processes, are available and typically these are present at 4-8% bixin
and are commercially more signifi cant than the genuinely oil-soluble formulations.
Aqueous solutions of nor-bixin were traditionally used in the American cheese
industry and the terminology has transferred into general use as single strength
(1.25-1.4% nor-bixin), double strength (2.5-2.8% nor-bixin), and triple strength
(3.0-3.8% nor-bixin).
As noted earlier, some forms of annatto contain a strong alkali (typically
potassium hydroxide) and it is always important to check the supplier's health and
safety information relative to the specifi c annatto formulation used.
Annatto has good general stability to heat but can decay above 125°C and will
fade in the presence of sunlight over time. Water-soluble formulations of annatto

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