Food coloring: Encyclopedia II - Food coloring - Purpose of food coloring

Food coloring - Purpose of food coloring

People learn to associate certain colors with certain flavors, and this causes the color of food to influence the perceived flavor, in anything from fruit gums to wine^[1]. For this reason, food manufacturers add dyes to their products. Sometimes the aim is to simulate a natural color as perceived by the consumer, such as adding red coloring to glacé cherries (which would otherwise be beige), but sometimes it is for effect, like the green ketchup that Heinz launched in 2000.

The American food industry uses 3000 tons of food color per year.

While most consumers are aware that foods with bright, unnatural colors, like Froot Loops, are artificially colored, few people know that apparently "natural" foods such as oranges are sometimes also dyed to mask natural variations in color. Most trust the regulation of their governments to keep any unsafe additives off the market, but there is a vigorous public debate about the safety of many food colorings - a notable example being tartrazine. A growing minority believes that the effects of colorings have not been well enough researched and consider their use an unnecessary risk.

Color variation in foods throughout season and the effects of processing and storing often make color addition a commercial advantage to maintain the color expected or preferred by the consumer. Some of the primary reasons include:

• Offsetting color loss due to light, air, extremes of temperature, moisture, and the storage conditions.
• Masking natural variations in color.
• Enhancing naturally occurring colors.
• Providing identity to foods.
• Protecting flavors and vitamins from damage by light.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Purpose of food coloring", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki