Food colours are additives that, when added to foods, impart colour to them.
Foods often undergo colour changes due to exposure to air, light, humidity, or temperature. The addition of colours serves to:
- enhance the naturally occurring colours;
- add colour to an otherwise colorless food;
- change the colour of a product.[1]
Therefore, colourants improve the appearance of foods and, for commercial purposes, encourage consumers to buy them.[2]
Along with sweeteners and stabilisers, they are among the most commonly used food additives in private households.[3]
Contents
- Purpose of food colouring
- Natural and artificial colours
- Regulation and examples of colours
- Health effects
- References
Purpose of food colouring
Colours are added to many foods, such as cheeses, beverages, snacks, sweets, jams, or fats like margarine and butter.
From a commercial point of view, they help make products more attractive, appetising, or easily identifiable to consumers. Among sensory signals, colour even appears to be the most important.[4]
Furthermore, consumer choices are often influenced by their perception of what the “natural” colour of the product should be.
An example is candied cherries, whose natural colour is beige, but which are coloured red using erythrosine (E127) or cochineal red A (E124), because that is the colour consumers consider natural for that product.
Colours are also used in the medical field, where they help make drugs identifiable by sight.[5][6][7]
Natural and artificial colours
Like other food additives, colours can be natural or artificial.
Natural food colours include both plant-derived and animal-derived molecules.[6]
Examples of plant-derived colours are lycopene (E160d), lutein (E161b), and beta-carotene (E160a(ii)), which are carotenoids. Some anthocyanins (E163), the only coloured flavonoids, and chlorophylls are also plant-derived colours.[8]
An example of animal-derived colour is carminic acid (E120), or more precisely, its aluminium salt. Carminic acid is extracted from cochineal (Dactylopius coccus), which is believed to use it as a visual deterrent, secreted when attacked by a predator.[9][10]
Finally, an example of an artificial colour is Allura red AC (E129), initially used as a substitute for amaranth (E123).[11]
Regulation and examples of colours
Below is a review of some colours included in the list of food additives approved in the European Community according to Regulation 1129/2011 of the European Commission, published on 11 November, 2011. This list is an amendment to Annex II to Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008 of the European Parliament, and was itself amended in 2013.[12]
| E-number | Colour and additive | |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow and Orange | ||
| E100 | Curcumin | |
| E101 | (i) Riboflavin, (ii) Riboflavin-5′-phosphate (Vitamin B2) | |
| E102 | Tartrazine (= FD&C Yellow No. 5) | |
| E104 | Quinoline Yellow | |
| E110 | Sunset Yellow FCF; Orange Yellow S (= FD&C Yellow No. 6) | |
| Red | ||
| E120 | Cochineal; Carminic Acid; Carmines | |
| E122 | Azorubine; Carmoisine | |
| E123 | Amaranth | |
| E124 | Ponceau 4R; Cochineal Red A | |
| E127 | Erythrosine (= FD&C Red No. 3) | |
| E129 | Allura Red AC (= FD&C Red No. 40) | |
| Blue | ||
| E131 | Patent Blue V | |
| E132 | Indigotine; Indigo Carmine (= FD&C Blue No. 2) | |
| E133 | Brilliant Blue FCF (= FD&C Blue No. 1) | |
| Green | ||
| E140 | Chlorophylls and Chlorophyllins: (i) Chlorophylls, (ii) Chlorophyllins | |
| E141 | Copper Complexes of Chlorophyll and Chlorophyllins | |
| E142 | Green S | |
| Brown and Black | ||
| E150a | Plain Caramel | |
| E150b | Caustic Sulphite Caramel | |
| E150c | Ammonia Caramel | |
| E150d | Sulphite Ammonia Caramel | |
| E151 | Brilliant Black BN; Black PN | |
| E153 | Vegetable Carbon | |
| E155 | Brown HT | |
| Carotenoids | ||
| E160a | Carotenes: (i) Mixed Carotenes, (ii) Beta-Carotene | |
| E160b | Annatto; Bixin; Norbixin | |
| E160c | Paprika Extract; Capsanthin; Capsorubin | |
| E160d | Lycopene | |
| E160e | trans-Beta-Apo-8′-Carotenal (C30) | |
| E160f | Ethyl Ester of Beta-Apo-8′-Carotenoic Acid (C30) | |
| Other Colours | ||
| E161b | Lutein | |
| E161c | Beta-Cryptoxanthin | |
| E161g | Canthaxanthin | |
| E162 | Beetroot Red; Betanin | |
| E163 | Anthocyanins | |
| E172 | Iron Oxides and Hydroxides | |
| E174 | Silver | |
| E175 | Gold | |
| FD&C = USA abbreviation for synthetic colours permitted in food, drugs and cosmetics. | ||
Health effects
The safety of food colours is a major concern, as their use is not essential for food preservation.
Scientific evidence indicates that, when used in accordance with current regulations, they do not pose a health risk. However, the competent authorities in the field, such as EFSA in the European Union, or the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives at the global level, continue to evaluate their safety, updating assessments when new evidence emerges or further research is needed, as in the cases of vegetable carbon (E153), iron oxides and hydroxides (E172), silver (E174), and gold (E175).[1]
Nonetheless, ongoing monitoring remains essential, especially in the case of vulnerable populations such as children and individuals with specific allergies.[6]
References
- ^ a b EFSA. Food colours. Last reviewed date: 18 January 2024.
- ^ Piqueras-Fiszman B. and Spence C. Sensory expectations based on product-extrinsic food cues: an interdisciplinary review of the empirical evidence and theoretical accounts. Food Qual 2015;40(Part A):165-179. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2014.09.013
- ^ Kozelová D., Fikselová M.,Dodoková A., Mura L., Mendelová A, Vietoris V. Analysis of consumer preferences focused on food additives. Acta Univ Agric Silvic Mendelianae Brun 2012;60(6):197-204. doi:10.11118/actaun201260060197
- ^ Spence C. On the psychological impact of food colour. Flavour 2015;4:21. doi:10.1186/s13411-015-0031-3
- ^ Zellner D., Greene N., Jimenez M., Calderon A., Diaz, Y., Sheraton M. The effect of wrapper color on candy flavor expectations and perceptions. Food Qual Prefer 2018;68:98-104. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2018.02.011
- ^ a b c Silva M.M., Reboredo F.H., Lidon F.C. Food colour additives: a synoptical overview on their chemical properties, applications in food products, and health side effects. Foods 2022;11(3):379. doi:10.3390/foods11030379
- ^ Figueiredo Muniz V.R.G., Ribeiro I.S., Beckmam K.R.L., Godoy, R.C.B. The impact of color on food choice. Braz J Food Technol 2023;26:e2022088. doi:10.1590/1981-6723.08822
- ^ Gebhardt B., Sperl R., Carle R., Müller-Maatsch J. Assessing the sustainability of natural and artificial food colorants. J Clean Prod 2020;260;120884. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120884
- ^ Deveoglu O. A review on cochineal (Dactylopius Coccus Costa) dye. Res J Recent Sci 2020;9(3):37-43
- ^ Eisner T., Nowicki S., Goetz M., Meinwald J. Red cochineal dye (carminic acid): its role in nature. Science 1980;208(4447):1039-42. doi:10.1126/science.208.4447.1039
- ^ Human Metabolome Database: Showing metabocard for Allura red AC (HMDB0032884). Human Metabolome Database. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ Commission Regulation (EU) No 1129/2011 of 11 November 2011 amending Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a Union list of food additives. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1129/2013-11-21