Food Colors

Important Terms (Food Colors)

Anthocyanins Red, blue, and violet water-soluble plant pigments of a phenolic nature. Browning, food Darkening of foods as a result of enzymatic or nonenzymatic reactions. Caramel Brown coloring matter made by heating sugars dry or in solution. Carotenes Chiefly orange-yellow plant and animal pigments; some are provitamins A. Certification, color Submission of a sample of […]

Food Colors

FOOD COLORS are both the sensations evoked when light reflected from foods stimulates the retina of the eye and the particular food components involved in the process. These components, also known as food colorants, may be present in foods naturally, or formed during food processing, or intentionally added to foods, or all of these. This […]

INTRODUCTION (Food Colors)

Color is important for identifying foods, judging their quality, and eliciting aesthetic pleasure in our encounters with them. Because color is usually the first food attribute to strike the senses, its significance in food marketing is obvious ("eating" with the eyes). Thus, all food providers (growers, grocers, homemakers, chefs, and industrial food processors) do their […]

NATURAL FOOD PIGMENTS Part 1

Approximately 1500 colored compounds, also known as natural food pigments, have been isolated from foodstuffs. On the basis of their chemical structure, these food pigments can be grouped in the following six classes: heme pigments, chlorophylls, carotenoids, flavonoids, betalains, and miscellaneous pigments. A. Heme Pigments Heme (from the Greek for blood) is the basic chemical […]

NATURAL FOOD PIGMENTS Part 2

D. Flavonoid Pigments Hundreds of flavone-like pigments are widely distributed among plants. On the basis of their chemical structure, these pigments are grouped in several classes, the most important of which are listed in Table II. The basic structure of all these compounds comprises two benzene rings, A and B, connected by a heterocycle. The […]

FOOD BROWNING

Foods may develop a variety of brown colors, from yellow-brown to red-brown to black-brown, during handling, processing, and storage. These colors are desirable in certain foods (e.g., coffee, beer, bread, maple syrup). In other foods, such as most dehydrated fruits and vegetables, dried eggs, and canned or dried milk, browning is detrimental. Even when desirable, […]

COLOR ADDITIVES IN FOODS

Colored substances are added to foods to modify the appearance of insufficiently colored or discolored foods and to create new foods. The following criteria must be met if a food color (colorant) is to be used; (1) it must be safe at the level and under the conditions of use; (2) it must be stable […]