Dyes and flavors. artificial and natural

Manufacturers food products Three types of dyes are commonly used:

• . Made from natural raw materials.
• . Fully synthetic.
• . Identical to natural.

Most often, it is precisely such dyes that are created artificially that are used. In addition, red food coloring is further modified to improve its properties. It is used to improve color and appearance product, a dye is used in order to restore the natural color of the product, which could be lost during its processing.

Food coloring red is actively used to give colorless products an attractive shade and create the appearance of diversity on store shelves. For the end consumer, color serves as an indicator of the freshness of products, brighter products are always considered much more recognizable among the mass of others.

Dyes responsible for color can be contained in it for natural reasons (this group includes beets, carrots, etc., the color of which is given to them by nature) or added by people in the process of preparation or processing.

How is the dye produced?

You can make red food coloring with different technologies. The most popular way can be called the use of red rice, when using the fermentation technology on ordinary polished rice, mushrooms of a certain type are grown. In the process of its development, the fungus releases a pigment with a red tint.

As soon as the sealing process is completed, it is dried using a special technology to a powder or left in granules. The pigment is preserved in them and can be used later for adding to food products. The resulting pigment is very resistant to impact. sun rays and temperature changes.

Natural red food coloring can also be obtained from leaves, a variety of root vegetables and berries of the appropriate shade. Wastes from the wine industry and canning factories can also be used for this purpose.

The amount of coloring pigment in each specific case will depend solely on the characteristics of the raw material, the degree of its maturity and the climatic conditions in which it grew. In most cases, this mark does not exceed a couple of percent. Scientists today are trying to find as many ways as possible to create food colors of natural origin so that the use of synthetic additives that are harmful to the body can be completely eliminated.

Another food coloring that gives ready meals red tint, is betanin (E162), which is obtained by evaporation from beet juice extract. Usually it is used in the form of a powder, since it is very convenient and its properties are not lost from this. You can get a wide variety of shades - from purple to rich bloody, simply by changing the acidity of the medium used.

Betanin is not just a dye, it also plays an important role in the human body:

• . Helps break down plant and animal proteins.
• . Strengthens the walls of capillaries.
• . Reduces pressure.

How to make red dye at home?

All housewives want to cook for their family only as much as possible. healthy meals, but at the same time they look quite attractive. What can replace red food coloring and is it really possible to use natural dyes instead? There is a mass simple recipes which can be used.

Get rich red or pink color you can, if you boil the berries (strawberries, raspberries, red currants, etc. red berries). As for vegetables - to create red food coloring ripe red tomatoes are also useful at home, bell pepper, red cabbage and even sweet paprika in powder form.

The most powerful dye is still considered beets, which must be thoroughly washed, peeled and grated before cooking. Next, the juice is poured with a small amount of water and boiled over low heat under a closed lid for at least 1 hour. To make the broth more saturated and the color stable, you need to add a little citric acid. After cooking, the broth should be cooled and strained with gauze.

The dye obtained as a result of manipulations meets the following requirements:

• . Completely harmless to all members of your family, even if you use a little more than the recommended dose.
• . Provides high-quality coloring of the product despite the amount of composition used.

Such food coloring can also be obtained in the process of mixing some shades. Be sure to take into account the fact that home-made dyes are short-lived and, when exposed to air and sunlight, can deteriorate very quickly. Therefore, it is recommended to use them completely immediately after preparation or store them in a tightly stoppered container that is not exposed to light.

Food coloring has been around for decades. Every first product off the supermarket shelf contains at least one dye. Many of them are on the list of permitted and do not harm health. But if you want to be completely sure of the safety of the products you use and cook unusual ones, colorful dishes for your family - better make dyes from simple vegetables or fruit.

Getting acquainted with the composition of the product, consumers are often frightened of all kinds of flavors and dyes, whose names always look like chemical formula. In fact, this is just a number adopted for the convenience of classification, the supplement itself can be more than natural.

Dyes and flavors. artificial and natural

All kinds of flavors and dyes have long been familiar ingredients many food products. In both cases we are talking about synthetic or natural substances, serving to improve the visual and aromatic characteristics of food. And practically any. However, not only food, but also some hygiene and cosmetic products, such as toothpaste.

What you need to know about dyes

Humanity has been using food coloring since ancient times. And until recently it was exclusively natural substances: juices of fruits of plants, extracts of animal and mineral origin, all kinds of tinctures. Most dyes today are synthetic. Number of natural dyes still in use in Food Industry, slightly.

The popularity of synthetic dyes is due to the fact that their production is much easier and cheaper than natural ones. Synthetic dye can be obtained at any time of the year, in any quantity, regardless of any natural phenomena. They are better stored without losing their color, and do not affect the smell and taste of food. In addition, it is possible to get absolutely fantastic colors that are impossible using natural dyes.

It has been known since ancient times that people tend to associate colors with taste. For this reason, some products are doomed to popularity, while others, even differing in excellent palatability, will be much less in demand. Fortunately, correcting the color of the product is not too difficult. Sometimes the color is changed solely to make the product completely unusual, like green ketchup.

By the way, some dyes obtained artificially can be called identical to natural ones. IN this case we are talking about natural dyes obtained in industrial scale Not traditional way but through certain chemical reactions.

All dyes, before being admitted to the production of products, are subject to mandatory certification, after which they receive a certain index. It looks like the letter "E", followed by a set of three numbers, starting with one - E100 (curcumin, giving yellow-orange) or E162 (betanine, red). By the number you can determine the color of the dye. So, from E100 to E111 there are dyes of yellow and orange shades, and from E140-E149 - green. Everything that is located above E161, for some reason, did not fall into general classification and can be any color.

Synthetic dyes have one very serious problem - some of them are dangerous to health. Constantly held laboratory research regarding the effects of certain substances on the human body. As a result of these studies, the lists of permitted substances are constantly being adjusted. The rules for the use of synthetic dyes, as well as the maximum daily dose of their consumption, may be different in each country. .

So, recently the company Coca Cola And PepsiCo took an unprecedented step - . True, it should be noted that this happened only in California. The fact is that the state government has issued a law according to which substances harmful to health must be indicated on the packaging of the product. In the case of well-known sodas, this component caramel dyes 4-methylimidazole, recently recognized as a carcinogen. Manufacturers preferred to change the composition, rather than scare consumers with such inscriptions.

However, in most cases it is not entirely clear whether a given substance is actually harmful or not. In the case of the same 4-methylimidazole, a person needs to drink a bucket of the drink a day, for a long time, in order to get a guaranteed dose. disease-causing. So, it is believed that E122 (karmazin, red) allowed in some countries can cause kidney disease, and also causes hyperactivity in children. Today, about 20 different dyes are known in the food industry, the harm from which is either not proven at all or is minimal.

What you need to know about fragrances

Unlike dyes, flavors, also known since ancient times, have become widespread only relatively recently, with the development of the chemical industry. The ever-increasing popularity of flavorings is due to the fact that foodstuffs that can be described as "synthetic" have become widespread. They are devoid of their own odors, which must be corrected by the introduction of flavors. By the way, food flavors can determine not only the smell, but also the taste of the product (flavoring substance or preparation). Here it should be noted that the term “substance” means an individual substance, and the term “preparation” means a mixture of substances obtained in one way or another. In a separate group, smoke flavors obtained from smokes, without which smoking is impossible, can be distinguished.

Just like dyes, flavors can be natural, artificial, or identical to natural. With regard to what and where to attribute, in former USSR, Europe and the US have their own rules.

Most of the flavorings have complex names that say little to the uninitiated. So, isoamyl acetate gives a pear smell, and allylhexanoate - pineapple. However, there are those with the smell of which everything immediately becomes clear: strawberry aldehyde, cinnamic aldehyde.

But if dyes exist and are not used so much, then flavors have been developed great amount. They can be liquid, emulsion, powder; be used exclusively for liquids or confectionery. The flavor must fully comply with the requirements of the food product with which it will be used.

As for the harm to health, everything is the same as with dyes. There are prohibited substances, the harm of which is no longer in doubt, as well as flavors that are harmless to health. Moreover, one should not think that natural ingredients always harmless. On the contrary, sometimes flavors obtained exclusively synthetically are much safer for humans. In this direction, various studies are also tirelessly carried out, lists of permitted and prohibited substances are compiled. For safety reasons, the use of many artificial and identical natural flavors in production baby food is completely excluded.

Food colorings are divided into 3 main types: natural, identical to natural and synthetic.

natural dyes

natural dyes are made from natural sources such as herbs, vegetable leaves, fruit peels, plant roots and seeds.

Animals can also be a source food coloring. Cochineal, or carminic acid, is a red dye that is obtained from the bodies of some scale insects (cochineal aphids). These insects feed on cactus leaves and their bodies are harvested for industrial purposes in Africa, Spain and Central America. To extract the red coloring matter, the bodies of the insects are dried and crushed.

natural dyes

Obtaining a dye from natural sources can be expensive, and the quality of natural dyes can vary (unstable). To overcome this, chemists find various laboratory ways to get identical natural dyes. The dyes obtained in this way are much better and cheaper.

natural dyes- these are exactly the same substances (same molecules) as those found in natural sources, but made artificially.

For example, carrots contain orange dye(a substance called beta-carotene), which is identical to natural.

Main chemical classes:

• flavonoids found in many flowers, fruits and vegetables;
• indigoid, found in beets;
• carotenoids found in carrots, tomatoes, oranges and most plants.

Most natural and nature identical dyes can be oil soluble but not water soluble. This means that they are difficult to add directly to food products. For solubility in water and suitability for use in the food industry, they are converted into sodium and potassium salts.

Synthetic (artificial) dyes

Synthetic dyes - these are dyes that do not occur in nature and were made in a factory (or laboratory). For safety reasons, these substances have been carefully examined and tested for their suitability for human consumption.

Main examples synthetic dyes are:

• azo dyes (amaranth: C 20 H 11 N 2 Na 3 O 10 S 3);
• other dyes such as quinoline (quinoline yellow), xanthene (erythrosine), triarylmethanes, indigoid (indigo carmine).

Synthetic dyes are generally water soluble and can be used in foods without further processing.

Food colorings have been known to mankind since ancient times. Plants, insects and even mollusks were used to color the products. Black color was obtained from cuttlefish liquid, orange - from saffron and turmeric flowers, red - from shield aphids. By the way, to obtain 100 g of such a red dye, about 20 thousand insects were required.

With the development of science, obtaining food colors has become much easier and cheaper - scientists began to synthesize them from various chemical compounds. In our modern society the color of products is included in the qualitative characteristics when studying the demand for food. When conducting organoleptic evaluations, an important stage is the study of the color of the product. The use of dyes in the food industry is quite common. They are used to add color that has been lost or dulled during food processing or storage. Used to give color to colorless products, such as ice cream, soft drinks. IN confectionery production dyes are often used to give an attractive appearance to products. Modern development The food industry allows the use of sufficiently high-quality dyes that are in complete harmony with the taste, aroma and shape of a particular product.

It's no secret that manufacturers use three types of food coloring - synthetic, natural, identical to natural. Most of the dyes used today, of course, are of artificial origin. Even natural dyes undergo chemical modification to improve consumer qualities and technological properties.

Synthetic dyes

Unlike natural, synthetic food colors do not carry any biological value, they do not contain trace elements and vitamins. That is why most scientists agree that it is necessary to ban the use of this kind of dyes, especially in the production of baby food. In our country, banned dyes stand out from the list of dyes E100 - E199, as well as dyes with the wording "not having permission for use in the food industry in Russian Federation"At the moment, about 20 types of synthetic food colors are allowed to be used in the food industry.

These dyes are very resistant to action. high temperatures, so the products can be subjected to all necessary types of processing: pasteurization, sterilization, cooling and freezing - this will not affect the color of the products. The main representatives of synthetic dyes are Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau (E124), Erythrosine (E127), Tartrazine (E102), using which various shades of red, orange, yellow are achieved.

Natural dyes

As a rule, natural food colors are a mixture of pigments of natural origin (betalains, carotenoids, anthocyanins, chlorophylls). These are substances that accumulate in different parts plants - leaves, stems, flowers, roots. The most famous pigment isolated from natural structures is betanin.

betanine (E162)- red food coloring Get it from the extract of beet juice by evaporation. Most often, this dye is used in powder form and perfectly restores its initial properties when combined with water. Depending on the acidity of the medium used, different shades of color can be obtained. For example, at lower pH values, the color is bright red, and at higher pH values, blue-violet. Betanin is not just a dye - it plays an important biological role in the human body: it promotes the breakdown and absorption of animal and vegetable proteins, takes part in the formation of choline, which improves the functioning of liver cells, increases the strength of capillaries, relieves vascular spasms, lowers arterial pressure, reduces the risk oncological diseases and generally provides positive impact on the blood, reducing the risk of heart attacks and protecting the cells of the whole body from the effects of negative environmental factors.

Chlorophyll (E140)- is a waxy substance with which a wide range of colors is obtained - from olive green to dark green. This dye is obtained from nettle, broccoli, cereal crops. To extract chlorophyll from natural material use the extraction process - they act on plants with chemical solvents (acetone, methanol, ethanol). Chlorophyll has a biological value for humans: it has anti-carcinogenic, anti-cancer properties, cleanses the body of toxic substances.

Anthocyanins (E163)- purple food coloring. Depending on the acidity of the medium, a diverse range of shades can be obtained from it: red, purple, blue. It is believed that vegetables and fruits with a bright saturated color are very useful for humans, because the anthocyanins contained in them have strong antioxidant properties, reduce capillary fragility, improve the condition of connective tissues and have a beneficial effect on the entire body.

Carotene (E160) - plant pigment which gives the products yellow and orange hues. In addition, it carries a fairly large biological benefit. It is found in various fruits, vegetables and flowers. Carotenes represent a fairly large group, consisting of 70 pigments, the most important of which is beta-carotene.

Paprika (E160s)- natural dye, which is obtained by extraction of red sweet pepper. He has wide range shades from red to orange. Based on it, a fat-soluble pigment with a characteristic spicy aroma- paprika extract. The presence of beneficial beta-carotenes and other carotenoids make foods containing this pigment an excellent source of vitamins.

Annatto extract (E160b)- gives products yellow. It belongs to natural dyes of imported production, which is obtained from the seeds of the orleans tree, as well as from the root of the turmeric plant (turmeric). Turmeric is also a carotenoid. This pigment is used in dyeing natural casings For sausage products, is used in the production of semi-finished products from poultry meat and delicacies. Annatto extract has proven itself in the dairy industry, where it is used to color yoghurts and fruit kefirs.

Dyes identical to natural

Such food colorings may contain residual amounts of the chemical elements with which they are obtained, therefore, a strict toxicological assessment of the resulting pigments is required. By the way, synthetic dyes are subjected to the same control. Identical to natural dyes are synthesized from the waste products of biosystems, where the producers are microalgae, yeast and even bacteria. The dyes obtained in this way are more resistant to heat and light. IN Lately science seeks to develop various technologies to obtain better quality food dyes from the waste products of the same biosystems.

The most striking example of the use of this kind of pigments is fermented red rice. It is obtained by fermenting ordinary polished rice with mushrooms of the Monascus species. Developing on the surface of moistened rice, mushrooms secrete a red pigment. After the end of the fermentation process, the mushrooms are dried to granules or powder, thus preserving them for the next technological processes. This pigment is sufficiently stable both to light and to changing conditions. temperature conditions, therefore, finds a wide range of applications in the meat and fish industry.

Also, the raw materials for the production of dyes identical to natural are flowers, leaves, root crops, berries, as well as waste from the processing of vegetable raw materials at canning and wineries. The amount of dyes themselves in plants, as a rule, depends on the time of their collection and climatic features of growth. But in any case, their content is small - only a few percent. Vegetable cheese also contains pectin, sugar, protein substances, organic acids, mineral salts, etc., the content of which can be several times higher than the volume of coloring pigments. Such substances are quite useful for human body, but by their presence they sharply reduce the intensity of coloring of products, so they are trying to get rid of them in production.

Today, scientists are increasingly finding various ways to obtain high-quality natural food dyes with a given range of properties in order to replace synthetic ones in the future. Agree, each of us strives to eat right, which implies the use of natural high-quality food. And whether it will be with the addition of dyes or not is not so important. The main question is what will be the nature of the coloring pigment: artificial or completely natural.

Raw materials for natural food coloring there may be berries, flowers, leaves, root crops, etc., incl. in the form of waste of vegetable raw materials for canning and wineries. Natural dyes contain as a coloring component organic compounds isolated from natural raw materials by extraction or in the form of juice. Water-soluble pigments are extracted with water or water-ethanol solutions; lipophilic compounds - vegetable oils, fats, terpenes and other non-polar solvents. Depending on the raw materials and methods for isolating natural dyes, they may differ in fractional composition and content of dyes. But in any case, it is relatively small, no more than a few percent or a fraction of a percent. Also, pigments can be accompanied by both beneficial to human health and toxic compounds. The amount of other chemical compounds - proteins, carbohydrates, pectin substances, organic acids - can exceed the content of coloring matter by several times. These compounds reduce the intensity of staining finished product. Therefore, not all colored raw materials can be used to produce pigments. In the production of preparations of natural dyes from by-products get rid of.

Preparations of natural food dyes are produced in the form of powders, pastes, liquids in the form of an oil or water-dispersible form. The content of the main dye is normalized and is tenths of a percent, percent or even tens of percent.

natural dyes, even chemically modified, sensitive to the effects of acids, including fruit acids, alkalis, atmospheric oxygen, temperature; they are susceptible to microbiological deterioration.

The advantages include: influence on the taste and aroma of the product (E 160c, E150); biological activity (E 101, E 160a); attractiveness to the consumer. Natural dyes have long been an integral part of the normal human diet, and therefore have been used without harm to health for countless generations. Moreover, many natural dyes are biologically active substances. Yellow and orange carotenoids, in particular beta-carotene, are antioxidants, they have a beneficial effect on vision, help fight coronary heart disease and, presumably, can slow down the aging process. Recent studies have shown that beta-carotene, which in the human body is able to transform into vitamin A, can also have a direct stimulating effect on the immune system, helping to fight cancer and infectious diseases. The extract from red pepper - paprika is very valuable, because it contains, along with beta-carotene, also other useful carotenoids - capsanthin. capsorubin and zeaxanthin, as well as fatty unsaturated acids. Green chlorophylls from green plant parts and red anthocyanins from grape skins wine varieties They are also antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory effects. Angocyanins are actively promoted in Europe today, since these flavonoid dyes have many useful properties: reduce cholesterol levels, prevent the formation of blood clots, increase the elasticity of blood vessels, accelerate wound healing, favorably affect vision, contribute to the prevention of cancer, etc. Grape skin extract is very interesting as a food coloring because it is most stable in acidic environment and gives a deep ruby ​​red color at low enough pH values ​​(2, 3, 4) that most other red food colors do not.

The use of natural dyes makes it possible to obtain quality products food that has an attractive, natural, "non-chemical" color that is usually impossible to achieve using synthetic dyes. In many cases, the overly bright and unnatural color of products resulting from the use of artificial colors (especially soft drinks) causes the same distrust and disgust in the consumer as the blue STEK and red peas in the tasters in the experiment described earlier. Moreover, in a number of food products, the use of synthetic dyes is inefficient, and sometimes simply impossible. With the help of natural dyes, you can get many colors and shades: cherry, strawberry, raspberry, red, orange, peach, yellow, green, lemon, brown, etc. With the help of combined natural dyes, this range can be expanded many times. Many natural dyes can give several shades at once, depending on their dosage in the product. So, for example, caramel dyes give a pleasant golden hue to soft drinks such as Lemonade, Duchess, Pinocchio, Cream Soda and Extra Citro, and these same dyes at higher dosages give a rich dark color. brown color to such drinks as Cola and Baikal. The world leader in the production of caramel colors, D.D. Williamson (Ireland), recommends caramel grades 050 and 108 as the most suitable for drinks, since they have an extremely high coloring power, resistance to acids and sunlight. Caramel colors are one of the most widely used in world practice - their annual consumption is hundreds and thousands of tons. Caramel colors are made from high quality natural raw materials (mainly glucose syrup), but at the same time it is one of the most inexpensive food colors. The safety of their use has been studied quite well and is confirmed by many years and detailed studies }