Food Color Additives: What They Are and How They’re Used

Color additives are colors, colorants, or coloring agents widely used to impart color to different food & beverage products, making them more appealing to consumers. A color additive is any dye, pigment, or other substance for coloring food, drugs, or cosmetics. In this blog, we will discuss what are color additives in the food industry. 

There’s a long history of food color additives as they have been used for centuries. Color additives are essential components of numerous products, making them more appealing, attractive, and appetizing than ever before. In addition to identifying candy flavors, medicine dosages, and left and right contact lenses on sight added color acts as a code. 

Regarding the safety and appropriate use of color additives, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has an important role in this area. Whether you’re a business or an individual professional wondering what color additives are used in the food industry, you have come to the right place.

What Are Color Additives?

Color additives refer to any substances used to provide color to foods, drugs, or pharmaceuticals. The US FDA regulates and monitors the use of food color additives used in various industrial applications. These color additives are derived from natural sources for coloring a wide range of products to make them more appealing, attractive, and informative.

The US FDA specifies the types of foods to which color additives can be added, the maximum amount allowed, and how they should be identified on food labels when they approve a color additive.

Types of Color Additives

Here are the main types of color additives used in various industrial applications, including: 

1. FD&C Red No. 40

FD&C Red No. 40 is the most common food dye that may promote tumors in animals. 

2. Fast Green FCF

This triaryl methane is also named Food Green 3 and Green 1724, most commonly used in drink mixes, baked goods, cereals, and frozen treats. 

3. Allura Red AC

This synthetic red azo food coloring, also known as “CL Food Red 17”, is usually supplied as a sodium salt. 

4. Fd&c Red no. 3

FD&C Red No. 3 is a red synthetic dye, also known as erythrosine that imparts bright cherry-red colors to foods and drinks.  

5. Brilliant Blue FCF

Brilliant Blue FCF, also known as FD&C Blue No. 1, Acid Blue 9, and Erioglaucine disodium salt is a synthetic organic compound used as a blue dye for coloring products, such as dietary supplements, processed foods, cosmetics, and medications.

6. Fd&c Yellow No. 5

FD&C Yellow No. 5 is a synthetic food dye, also known as tartrazine widely used in various foods, beverages, and other items.

7. Citrus Red 2

Citrus Red 2, also known as Solvent Red 80, is a synthetic dye used as a food coloring in various foods and beverage items. If you are wondering what are synthetic dyes, here is everything you need to know. 

8. Orange B

Orange B is a food color additive certified and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in hot dog and sausage casings only. 

9. Tartrazine

Tartrazine is a synthetic lemon yellow azo dye combined with Brilliant Blue FCF used as a food coloring to impart various shades of green.

10. Sunset Yellow FCF

Sunset Yellow FCF is a synthetic orange azo dye used as a food coloring or colorant to enhance the look & feel and overall texture of foods and beverages. 

11. Indigo Carmine

Indigo Carmine is one of the most synthetic organic salts used as a food dye, histological dye, and two-color indicator. It is most commonly used in the textile industry for dyeing denim and other food products. 

12. Iron oxides

Iron oxides refer to a class of chemical compounds made up of iron and oxygen atoms, and are used in coatings, paints, and colored concrete. They provide a wide range of colors, including Red, Brown, yellow, and Black. 

13. Lakes

Lake colors is a type of pigment used as a color additive or colorant to provide colors to various products, including foods, cosmetics, and medications. Lake colors are often produced using FD&C dyes and can be mixed with sugars, fats, and oils. 

14. Pigments

Pigments are a group of compounds that are intensely colored and used to provide color to other materials. There are various pigments used for cosmetics and skin care products. It is also important to note that pigments are insoluble, so they are not applied as solutions, but rather as finely ground solid particles in liquid solutions.

Certification for Color Additives

During the certification process, the FDA ensures that newly manufactured batches of certifiable color additives conform to the regulations regarding their identity and specification. FDA-certified batches represented 28.1 million pounds of color or color additives in the fiscal year 2022, most of them were intended for food.

During the process of reviewing a petition to list a color additive, the agency decides whether batch certification is required or not. Some color additives may contain toxicologically problematic impurities, which may adversely affect human health. Furthermore, it is necessary to control batches if public health is at risk.

Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), substances that impart color are considered color additives that must be pre-approved before they are released on the market unless they are solely used for another purpose than coloring and do not play a role in the product’s marketability.

Review Process for Color Additive

New color additives or new uses for listed color additives are certified and evaluated by the US FDA based on numerous factors like probable consumption and exposure, cumulative impact on the diet, safety factors, and analytical methods that can be used to determine the purity and impurity levels of the product. 

If an interested party wants a new color additive to be used, or if an existing color additive needs to be listed for a new purpose, he or she can petition the FDA for the use of the additive.

Conclusion

In the bottom line, it can be said that color additives are colorants used for coloring a wide range of products, including foods, drugs, and pharmaceuticals. These color additives, also known as food dyes, are most commonly used in different industrial applications, such as food and beverage products. 

If you are a business or entrepreneur looking for premium quality color additives or food dyes for your business applications, look no further than Hridhan Chem. Hridhan Chem is a reputable manufacturer and exporter of high-quality dyes and pigments, get in touch with us today!

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