Origin of food coloring Abstract: Natural and synthetic food colors

Long-term storage of products, heat treatment lead to loss of color. Everyone knows what boiled meat looks like, but few people want to buy a dirty gray sausage.

Food coloring is called upon to restore color, to give food an appetizing look.

A bit of history

People began to tint products from the time of the “deep antiquity”.

The ancient Egyptians mixed crushed roots, flowers and leaves of plants into their food.

Ancient civilization raised cooking to the rank of high arts.

Added if you wanted to give the dish a yellow tint. Traders brought blue color from India. It was obtained from a plant of the genus Indigo.

Some dyes were obtained in a very exotic way. (red color) was extracted from the dried bodies of shield aphids. For 100 grams of dye, twenty thousand female insects went.

Purple - from snails of the purple family (10,000 mollusks per gram!).

The liquid released by the cuttlefish gave a black color.

The cost of dyes was fabulous. To allow herself to eat tinted food could only know.

The fashion for "multi-colored" products has been preserved for many centuries. In the harsh Middle Ages, to give bread a white color, lime or powdered bones were added to flour.

The high cost of natural dyes, low thermal stability prompted the search to replace them with cheaper and more stable substances.

A breakthrough in the creation of synthetic dyes comes from 19th century. In 1842, Nikolai Zinin, president of the Russian Chemical Society, synthesized aniline.

Later, the Polish scientist Natanson, who worked in Russia, obtained a red substance by heating aniline with dichloroethane. This is how the first synthetic dye fuchsin appeared.

Nikolai Zinin himself found a cheap way to obtain a dye by aniline oxidation. The discovery made it possible to put the production of synthetic dyes on an industrial scale. Magenta was bought by French winemakers to color their products.

Many dyes were isolated by chance, in the course of other chemical experiments.

In 1856, a young scientist from England, William Perkin, conceived the antimalarial quinine from aniline. The result of the experiments was a certain black substance, from which a purple substance with a pinkish tint was isolated. Out of curiosity, they dyed silk, and the name of the eighteen-year-old chemist went down in history forever. The enterprising young man organized the factory production of a dye, which was called movein.

A decade later, German chemists Karl Grebe and Karl Theodor Liebermann synthesized alizarin.

At the end of the century, their colleagues Heinrich Caro and Adolf Bayer developed methods for the synthesis of indigo, indulin, eosin and other substances.

The era of synthetic dyes has begun.

Types of food coloring

All produced dyes are divided into two groups: natural and synthetic. The latter are divided into organic and inorganic.

natural

The group includes dyes obtained by extraction from natural raw materials (vegetable or animal). They have biological value.

Minerals and vitamins are good for health.

Natural dyes are used to a limited extent in food production. The reason is their sensitivity to light and changes in pH, the ability to lose color during heat treatment.

Name		Permissible daily allowance per 1 kg of body weight
Curcumins	E 100	Allowed, 2.5 mg	Bakery products, margarine, cheeses, confectionery. Used as a spice
Riboflavins	E 101	Allowed, 0.5 mg	Soft drinks, pickled vegetables
Alkanet	E 103	Doesn't have permission	-
Carmines	E 120	Allowed, 0.5 mg	Alcoholic drinks, sausage, dairy products, fish, juices, ketchups
Chlorophyll	E140		Ice cream, mayonnaise, desserts
Copper complex of chlorophyll	E141	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Ice cream, desserts, dairy products
Sugar colors	E150a, E 150b, E 150c, E 150d	Allowed, 200 mg	Dairy desserts, chocolate butter, soft drinks
Extracts of natural carotenes	E160a	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Yoghurts, mayonnaise, confectionery and bakery products, cottage cheese, condensed milk
Annato	E 160b	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Butter, margarine, cheeses
paprika extract, capsanthin	E 160s	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Ice cream, sauces, processed cheeses, desserts
Lycopene	E 160d	Doesn't have permission	-
Carotene aldehyde	E160e	Allowed, 5 mg	Ice cream, sauces, cheeses
Flavoxanthin	E 161a	Doesn't have permission
Lutein	E 161b	Allowed, up to 10 mg	Canned vegetables and fruits, dairy desserts, fruit wines
Cryptoxanthin	E 161c	Doesn't have permission	-
Rubixanthin	E 161d	Doesn't have permission	-
Violoxanthin	E 161e	Doesn't have permission	-
Rhodoxanthin	E 161f	Doesn't have permission	-
beetroot red	E 162	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Frozen and dried vegetables and fruits
Anthocyanins	E 163	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Confectionery, juices, alcoholic products, ice cream
Saffron	E 164	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Confectionery, bakery products, desserts. Self spice
Sandalwood	E 166	Doesn't have permission	-
Tannins for food	E 181	Allowed, daily allowance not established	Astringent drinks
Orsail	E 182	Doesn't have permission	-

Some natural dyes have synthetic counterparts:

ethyl ester of carotenic acid (E 160f), analog. Since 2008, it has not been approved for use in the food industry;
(E 161g), artificially synthesized carotenoid;
carotene aldehyde (E 160e) and (E 160d) can be both natural and artificial.

Synthetic

Unlike natural dyes, artificial dyes are odorless, tasteless, and have no biological significance.

These are chemical organic compounds soluble in water, ethyl or oily liquids. They are usually released in the form sodium or calcium salts. Widely used in the food industry due to a number of properties:

long shelf life;
resistance to heat treatment;
low photosensitivity;
resistance to changes in acid balance;
good solubility in water;
relatively low price.

Synthetic dyes are classified according to chemical production methods: azo dyes, triarylmethane, xanth dye, quinoline, indigo.

Azo dyes

Azo dyes form a large group. Synthetic inorganic substances are obtained by combining phenols and diazotized aromatic derivatives of ammonia (amines) in an aqueous, slightly acidic or slightly alkaline medium. The raw materials are most often coal tar derivatives and oil refinery products.

Name	Index in the European codification of food additives		What products are most often found in
Tartrazine	E 102	Allowed, up to 7.5 mg. Dangerous	Ice cream, mustard, yogurt, carbonated drinks, confectionery
Yellow 2G	E 107	Doesn't have permission	-
Sunset Yellow FCF, Orange Yellow S	E 110	Allowed, up to 110 mg	Jams, spices, freeze-dried soups, candy glaze, canned fish
Azorubine	E 122	Allowed, 4 mg. Considered a carcinogen in Japan, banned in the USA, Norway, Austria, Sweden	Confectionery, smoked fish, minced fish, processed cheese, canned vegetables and fruits. Approved for drug staining
Ponceau 4 R	E 124	Allowed, 4 mg	Sausage, ice cream, bakery stuffing, canned strawberries, seafood, sauces
Red 2G	E 128	Not allowed, strong carcinogen	-
Red charming AC	E 129	Allowed, 7 mg	Confectionery, chocolate biscuits, jelly dry mixes
Brilliant Black BN	E 151	Allowed, 1 mg	Dairy products, ice cream, dry soups, pickles, instant food. In pharmacology for drug staining
Brown NT	E 155	Doesn't have permission	-

Azo dyes mix well with each other. This allows you to get a rich color range with many shades.

In addition to the food industry, the dyes of the group are used for the manufacture of decorative cosmetics and detergents. Many additives are approved for coloring medicines.

Triarylmethane

Triarylmethane dyes are obtained from coal tar by the method of organic synthesis of acids with aromatic amines and phenols. They have bright saturated colors, which are lost when interacting with ethyl alcohol. For this reason, triarylmethanes rarely used for coloring alcoholic beverages.

Name	Index in the European codification of food additives	Degree of danger, permissible daily allowance per 1 kg of body weight	What products are most often found in
Blue Patent V	E 131	Allowed	Minced meat, sausages
Brilliant blue FCF	E 133	Allowed, up to 12.5 mg	Ice cream, desserts, soft drinks
Green durable FCF	E 143	Allowed, up to 12.5 mg	Bakery, pasta, meat and fish analogues based on vegetable protein, seafood
Green S	E 142	Allowed. Banned in Canada, Japan, Norway, USA	Popsicles, canned peas, mint sauce. In pharmaceuticals for drug staining

Triarylmethane dyes have found application in medicine as indicators for the diagnosis of various diseases. Used for the production of cosmetics, detergents.

xanthic

Xanth dye is a sodium salt. It is obtained by iodination in an aqueous or alcoholic solution of the organic substance fluorescein.

The dye is not approved for use in the food industry. Considered a carcinogen.

It can provoke the development of asthma, heart disease, thyroid gland. Negatively affects reproductive function.

Yellow quinoline dye (E 104) belongs to the group of the same name. Obtained by a multi-stage chemical reaction of sulfonation of 2-methylquinoline with phthalic ahydride. Belongs to the category permitted for use in the food industry in Russia. Permissible daily allowance is 10 mg per 1 kg of body weight. It is most often found in chewing gums, hard candies and smoked fish.

The dye negatively affects the condition of the skin. Banned in USA, Japan, Norway, Australia.

indigoid

Indigoid food coloring is obtained from coal tar by fusing phenyl-glycine with sodium amide. Further sulfonation gives a blue coloring powder. Allowed in the food industry (ice cream, yogurt, confectionery), pharmaceuticals for the manufacture of medicines, medicine for test diagnostics.

May cause an allergic reaction, suffocation.

Inorganic

The group of dyes obtained from mineral raw materials of natural or chemical origin stands out.

Name	Index in the European codification of food additives	Degree of danger, permissible daily allowance	What products are found in
Coal	E 152	Allowed	Cheese, frozen semi-finished products
Vegetable charcoal	E 153	Not allowed	-
calcium carbonates	E 170	Allowed	Cocoa, chocolate, baked goods, fruit and vegetable preserves
Titanium dioxide	E 171	Allowed	Icing sugar, chewing gum
Iron oxides and hydroxides	E 172	Allowed, 0.5 mg	Soft drinks, meat and fish pates
Aluminum	E 173	Not allowed	-
Silver	E 174	Not allowed	-
Gold	E 175	Not allowed	-
Ruby Lithol VK	E 180	Not allowed	-

Natural and synthetic food colors

Additive E 166 is obtained chemically from red sandalwood wood. Despite the known valuable properties of the plant, the dye is prohibited for use in the food industry in many countries as a toxic product.

Food coloring E172, iron oxides and hydroxides. It comes in three colors and is practically harmless when eaten. Almost never used in Russia

Titanium dioxide E171 is a white mineral dye. Used in a large number of industries, made from metal ore, practically harmless

Natural or identical to natural food coloring E150 in various shades of brown. Produced from organic sources or chemically synthesized throughout the world. Depending on the type, non-toxic or practically non-toxic, suitable for a wide range of products

Properties and scope of food additive E170. Does it pose a risk to human health?

The origin of the food additive E 182 is of interest. Natural dye from lichen is toxic. Most countries have abandoned its use in the food industry

Food additive E 161g (canthaxanthin) is approved for use in the food industry. When buying salmon or chicken carcass, few people realize that the appetizing color of the product was achieved artificially.

Lycopene is a natural supplement whose presence is welcome. Find out what E 160d is made from, in what form is it better absorbed? What happens to the body if the recommended dose is exceeded? Where to get lycopene?

Food coloring E141, copper complexes of dye E140. It has more stability, in many respects the same properties. Widely used in food industry

Food additive E 151 belongs to the group of artificial dyes. Black powder is widely used in the food industry. Can a synthetic substance be considered harmless to health?

Food coloring E 164 (saffron) is unique in composition. It is used in medicine, food and cosmetic industries. They dye fabrics. What are the benefits and harms of supplements? How to distinguish a fake?

Natural food coloring E160 orange. Produced from organic plant sources or chemically synthesized. Practically harmless, in small quantities necessary for a person

Food coloring E160c is widely used in the production of various food products and products to give them orange-red hues. The composition of the supplement is completely natural and does not cause any harm to human health and life.

Additive E131 is a food coloring that causes consumer alertness. And for good reason, although officially the supplement is safe. And what is the dye made of, how can it be replaced at home, and in what products is it present?

Food additive E 161C in 2008 was excluded from the list of permitted in all countries. How is yellow dye obtained? What harm does it do to a person?

Food additives with an "E" index are not always harmful. Annatto seed dye (E 160b), approved in all countries, can prevent serious diseases

The effect of the food additive E 133 on the body has not yet been studied. Does artificial dye benefit or harm? Why is the supplement popular with manufacturers?

Food coloring E 154 is not approved for use in many countries, including Russia. Why is the additive dangerous, why should English smoked products be abandoned?

Why is a dye identical to natural needed? And how to use it in cooking? Few people know the answers to these and other questions regarding such substances. That is why we decided to devote this article to this difficult topic.

general information

Before telling you about how to use at home, you should tell what this product is.

This is a group of synthetic or natural dyes that are used to color food in different colors.

It should be especially noted that such an ingredient began to be used in cooking centuries ago. So, in ancient Egypt, they colored wine and sweets, as well as other foods and drinks. But by the end of the 18th century, the food industry had developed so much that it began to use a wide range of this product as an additive to completely different dishes, including to mask the poor quality of the main ingredients. In addition, natural dyes were often used for decorative purposes.

Of course, in those distant times, there was no control over the use of the mentioned component. But with the development of the market, as well as with ideas about the dangers of toxic compounds for humans, legislation on the norms for their use nevertheless arose. Currently, it is reduced to an approved list of permitted food additives.

Substance classification

How are food colorings used at home? We will tell you about this a little lower. Now I want to talk about what types these additives are divided into.

As you know, dyes for changing the color of individual products are divided into 3 main types:

synthetic;
natural;
dye identical to natural.

Let's take a closer look at what exactly is their difference.

Synthetic dyes

Food coloring for cakes and other products does not have to be natural. That is why, when buying pastries or other sweets in the store, you should pay special attention to their composition.

If you find on the label that the product contains synthetic dyes, this does not mean that it is unhealthy. After all, all manufacturers for the manufacture of their products are required to use only those additives that are included in the list approved by law. Although one cannot fail to say that with the regular use of dishes with the use of coloring agents, one can cause significant harm to one's health.

So, synthetic dyes are additives that do not occur in nature. In other words, they were made in a laboratory or factory.

It should be especially noted that for safety reasons, these substances must be thoroughly tested and tested for the possibility of consumption.

Examples of synthetic dyes

To recognize such additives in the composition (on the product packaging), we present several options:

Dye E124 (another name for Ponceau 4R). Such a crimson additive has a chemical origin. It is a salt (sodium), which can be in the form of granules or red powder. It cannot be said that, despite the fact that such a dye is approved for use, it is classified as a substance hazardous to health.
Azo dyes (another name is amaranth or C 2 0H 11 N 2 Na 3 O 10 S 3) and so on.

It should be noted that there are still many different additives that are used to improve the appearance and quality of products (for example, quinoline, xanthene, indigo, triarylmethanes, etc.). Recognizing them in the composition is not so difficult. They are designated as dye E124, E123, etc.

Features of substances

Synthetic food colors for cakes and other foods generally dissolve well in plain water and can be used without pretreatment. Usually, the dishes where they are added can be subjected to absolutely any influence (for example, sterilization, freezing, cooling and pasteurization). Moreover, using red dyes or additives of other colors, the manufacturer is able to significantly improve the appearance of products. Often they are also used to mask ingredients that have already expired.

natural dyes

Natural dyes are considered the most harmless and safe for the human body. But, unfortunately, such additives are difficult to obtain and are not subject to long-term storage. That is why most manufacturers prefer to add to their products precisely those substances that are of synthetic origin.

So, natural dyes are made from natural sources. Among them, the following can be noted: herbs, fruit peels, vegetable leaves, seeds and roots of plants, various fruits, berries, etc.

By the way, animals often act as such sources. For example, red dyes (carminic acid, for example) are obtained from the bodies of scale insects. These insects feed on cactus leaves. They are collected for industrial purposes in Spain, Africa and even Central America. In order to extract the coloring pigment, the bodies of all insects are first dried and then crushed.

As you can see, the extraction of natural nutritional supplements is a rather laborious and lengthy process that costs a lot of time and effort, as well as significant financial costs.

Dye identical to natural

As mentioned a little earlier, obtaining the necessary dyes from sustainable natural raw materials can be so expensive that retail sales cannot pay for themselves. Moreover, the quality of natural supplements varies markedly depending on various factors (unstable). That is why the manufacturers of these substances decided to get out of this situation and find laboratory methods that would allow them to obtain a dye identical to natural.

It should be noted that additives made in this way are much cheaper and better.

So, food coloring components that are identical to natural ones are exactly the same substances (that is, they have the same molecules) as those found in natural sources. However, they are made artificially.

For example, insects of the cactus false shield contain a red natural dye (or the so-called carmine dye). After long laboratory tests, scientists were able to artificially make the same bright additive, but without using the bodies of living beings. Now carmine dye has become much cheaper and more affordable.

Chemical classes of natural dyes

Identical dye for water and solids - a compound that is divided into the following chemical classes:

Indigoid, which were found by experts in beets. It should be noted that such an additive is very similar to carmine. Their color almost completely coincides (bright red or burgundy).
Flavonoids found in many fruits, flowers and vegetables. Thanks to them, food manufacturers began to use a wide palette of colors during the production of confectionery and other products.
Carotenoids. This substance is found in tomatoes, carrots, oranges, as well as in most plants.

Features of natural and identical natural dyes

Unlike synthetic additives, natural additives practically do not dissolve in water. However, they interact well with oil. This means that they are quite difficult to add directly to products. After all, for this you have to convert them into potassium or sodium salts.

Requirements for food coloring

It does not matter which dyes (identical to natural, natural or synthetic) are used for the production of a particular product. The main thing is that they meet all the necessary requirements:

Harmlessness. In other words, the substance used in the prescribed dosage should not harm the human body. It should be free of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and in no case should they have a pronounced biological activity.
Color fastness. Any food coloring must be resistant to light, reducing agents and oxidizing agents, as well as changes in temperature and acid-base environment.
A high degree of coloration of certain products at low concentrations of the added substance. For example, the dye carmine (color - red) should give the product a rich color, even in small quantities.
The ability to dissolve in fats or water. Moreover, absolutely all dyes should be evenly distributed in the total mass of food products (without the appearance of specks, stains, etc.).

It should also be noted that with the help of certain food dyes it is not allowed to mask the true color of the product caused by its spoilage, the use of low-quality raw materials, or a violation of the technological regime.

What are the groups of dyes?

We described above how food colorings are classified by origin. However, I would like to tell you about what types they are divided into according to their structure.

It should also be noted that you can easily add to the confectionery masses and neutral cold gel, as they are fat-soluble dyes. Due to this, the manufacturer is able to make completely different products, significantly changing their color.

It is impossible not to say that dry food colors are quite easily converted into liquid ones. To do this, the powder must be diluted with alcohol, warm boiled water or vodka. In this case, the ratio of these ingredients is chosen at personal discretion.

Gel supplements

Food are concentrates of coloring gels. Most often they are used in the confectionery industry. So, with the help of these substances, sugar mastic is colored, as well as marzipan, fudge, icing, creams and cream, chocolate icing, chocolate and other products that are made on the basis of granulated sugar.

If you decide to use gel food coloring in your production, then you should know what advantages they have.

Firstly, such an additive has absolutely no taste and smell. Secondly, after being added to a particular product, it is not able to change its structure. Thirdly, such dyes are quite economical. So, their approximate consumption is 1.5 grams of concentrate per 1 kg of dyed mass.

The method of applying gel dyes is quite simple. To do this, the amount of additive required to obtain a certain color interferes with the bulk of the product to be dyed.

As a rule, such a component is sold in plastic jars or tubes.

Features of the use of food coloring

During the production of a food product where coloring is added, it is recommended to consider the following:

with an increase in fat, as well as prolonged mixing of the product, the intensity and degree of its staining decreases markedly;
the acidity of the medium has a direct effect on the shade of color and the intensity of color;
an increase in the amount of ascorbic acid reduces the intensity of the color of the finished product;
some synthetic and natural dyes in solutions may discolour when exposed to light;
heat treatment does not change the shade and color intensity of the product made on the basis of synthetic food dyes;
magnesium and calcium ions, which are contained in hard water, often precipitate with dyes;
in fermented milk products, synthetic dyes become colorless within a few hours;
natural dyes are not recommended for coloring products that are intended for long-term storage;
natural dyes are not recommended to be exposed to high temperatures;
for dyeing fermented milk products in a reddish hue, it is better to use beetroot dye or carmines, which are most stable at a pH of 2 to 7.

Summing up

Now you know what food colors are, what they are and how to add them to foods. It should be noted that for home use it is best to purchase only natural substances. By the way, you can make them yourself. For example, by squeezing the juice from beets or carrots, and then adding to butter or any other cooking oil.

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

1. From the history of dyes

2.1 Synthetic dyes

2.2 Natural dyes

2.3 Unique likeness

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

The most important quality characteristic of food products, evaluated by consumers, is their organoleptic characteristics - taste, color and aroma. Moreover, color is the very first quality indicator that the consumer pays attention to when choosing a product. A distinctive feature of the dye is the ability to impregnate the dyed material, food and give color throughout its entire volume.

Food coloring has been used since ancient times to improve the appearance of food. Food colorings are categorized into edible colorants, color stabilizers, surface colorants, and colorants for non-edible casings.

Dyes are added to food products to:

Restoration of natural color lost during processing and/or storage;

Increasing the intensity of natural coloring in order to enhance the external attractiveness of the product;

Coloring of colorless products, such as soft drinks, ice cream, confectionery, to give an attractive appearance and color variety.

In this paper, we will take a closer look at natural and synthetic food dyes.

1. From the history of dyes

The use of natural dyes has been known since 3000 BC. Dyes were brought to Greece from India, where they were extracted from a plant of the genus Indigofera (indigo). In Europe and Russia, indigo was obtained from plants of the species Isatis tinctoria. The bright and durable color of indigo-dyed fabrics gave this dye great value.

One of the oldest dyes is purple, which is still in the X century. BC. Phoenicians obtained from purple snails (murex brandalis). To obtain one gram of purple, 10,000 snails had to be processed! Purple has been the most valuable of all dyes for centuries.

The impetus for the development of the chemistry of dyes was the discovery of N.N. Zinin in 1842 reduction reactions of aromatic nitro compounds:

C 6 H 5 NO 2 + 6H C 6 H 5 NH 2 + 2H 2 O.

The scientist in this way obtained aniline and some other amine derivatives of aromatic compounds, which later served as the basis for the creation of a new branch of the chemical industry - aniline dye. The first synthetic dye was obtained in 1855 by a Polish chemist, professor at Warsaw University J. Natanson, who was working in Russia at that time. When aniline was heated with dichloroethane, he obtained a bright red dye called magenta.

In 1856, the English chemist W.G. Perkin, trying to synthesize quinine, isolated a purple dye (moveine) from the dark precipitate formed by the interaction of aniline with potassium dichromate.

In 1868 K. Grebe and K.T. Lieberman synthesized alizarin from anthracene by brominating anthraquinone and fusing the bromide with potash. Previously, alizarin was obtained from the roots of madder.

Then eosin and other phthalein dyes were synthesized (A. Bayer and G. Caro). Today, there are more than 15,000 dyes of various shades belonging to different classes of compounds.

2. Food coloring: difference in characteristics and similarity in requirements

High-quality food products harmoniously combine shape, taste, aroma and color. A high level of quality of any of these parameters allows the product to be complete, live up to its name and be in demand. However, it is the color scheme that largely determines the attractiveness and diversity of the range of food products.

Health-conscious consumers know that manufacturers use synthetic, natural, and natural-identical food colorings to preserve, enhance, and impart a particular color and appearance to foods.

But not everyone knows that most of the dyes currently on the market are of artificial origin. However, with the development of research in the field of toxicology, there has been a clear trend towards limiting their use for food purposes in almost all countries of the world. In turn, the harmlessness of most natural coloring substances, as a rule, is not in doubt, since the adaptation of the human body to natural food components occurred in the course of evolution. At the same time, for many of them, the maximum permissible concentrations are still established.

In general, food coloring has the following basic requirements:

Harmlessness in the applied doses, including the absence of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, pronounced biological activity;

Color fastness (resistance to light, oxidizing and reducing agents, changes in the acid-base environment, temperature rise);

High degree of staining at low dye concentrations;

The ability to dissolve in water or fats, as well as evenly distributed in the mass of food products;

It is not allowed to mask with the help of dyes a change in the color of the product caused by its spoilage, violation of technological regimes or the use of low-quality raw materials.

So, food colors are natural (natural) and synthetic (these are organic compounds that do not occur in nature, that is, artificial).

However, natural dyes are sometimes subjected to chemical modification to improve technological and consumer properties. Unlike natural dyes, synthetic dyes do not have biological activity, do not contain vitamins and flavoring substances. And they have the most complaints. For example, British experts consider their use very dangerous, especially for children, and call for a complete ban on artificial food colors. Russian experts have already identified particularly harmful dyes. And now in their long list - from E100 to E199 - there are substances prohibited in our country, as well as substances with the following wording: "not approved for use in the food industry in the Russian Federation."

2.1 Synthetic dyes

The most common synthetic (chemical) food colorings are water-soluble organic compounds that do not occur naturally and have not yet been identified in natural foods.

The main representatives of synthetic dyes that reflect monochromatic radiation of red, orange and yellow colors are Carmoisine, Ponceau, Erythrosine, Tartrazine. Their essential advantage is their high coloring ability, which allows obtaining the coloring of food products of the required intensity with the help of a small amount of dyes. They have standard color strength, high resistance to light, oxidizing and reducing agents, and pH changes. Synthetic dyes are thermostable, so the product dyed by them can be subjected to all necessary technological operations, including pasteurization, sterilization, cooling and freezing.

Chemical dyes have no nutritional value and, at best, are biologically inert for the human body, and at worst, they turn out to be highly active and not harmless. In this regard, the use of this type of dyes is permissible only in cases where they do not threaten human life even with prolonged use.

To date, the food industry is allowed to use about 20 synthetic dyes. Almost all of them have been used in the global food industry for decades.

The stability and intensity of coloring with synthetic dyes also depend on the fat content, the degree of "overrun" of the product, the content of alcohol and reducing sugars, the use of mesophilic sour-milk starter cultures, and microbiological indicators. Such dyes are supplied, as a rule, in the form of fine powders, granules and aluminum varnishes. Dosages: from 0.001 to 0.25 g per 1 kg of product.

Let us give examples and a brief description of some synthetic dyes.

Tartrazine

The color of the aqueous solution is yellow.

Applications: confectionery, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, dragees, ice cream, pasta, dairy products, cheeses, sauces and ketchups, purees, jams, medicines, detergents.

Applications: alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, puddings, desserts, canned fruits, fish and meat products, confectionery, ice cream, pasta, dairy products, sausages and semi-finished mince products, sauces and ketchups, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, detergents.

Quinoline yellow

Color of the aqueous solution: lemon yellow.

Applications: confectionery and bakery products; alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks; ice cream; pasta; dragee; dairy, meat and fish products; cheeses; sauces and ketchups; puree, jams; cosmetics; pharmaceuticals; detergents and cleaners.

Carmoisine (azorubine)

Color of aqueous solution: crimson red.

Applications: sausages and confectionery, minced semi-finished products, sauces and ketchups, desserts, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, ice cream, pasta, puddings, canned food, dairy products, for coloring medicines and cosmetics

Black shiny

Color of the aqueous solution: blue-violet.

Applications: confectionery, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, ice cream, pasta, dairy products, sausages and semi-finished mince products, sauces and ketchups, purees, jams, cosmetics, detergents.

Blue shiny

Color of aqueous solution: blue.

Applications: confectionery, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, pasta, desserts, ice cream, dairy products, sausages and semi-finished mince products, sauces and ketchups, purees, jams, dragees, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and detergents.

indigo carmine

Color of aqueous solution: blue.

Applications: confectionery, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, ice cream, pasta, dairy products, sausages and semi-finished mince products, sauces and ketchups, purees, jams, desserts, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics.

Yellow Sunset

Color of aqueous solution: orange.

Applications: alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks; confectionery, ice cream, fish products, shrimps, pasta, dairy products, cheeses, sauces and ketchups, purees, jams.

Red charming

Color of aqueous solution: red.

Applications: confectionery, biscuits, dry mixes, fruit fillers, etc.

Chocolate NT

Color of aqueous solution: red-brown.

How to use:

1. The required amount of dry dye is weighed and dissolved in a small amount of water, milk formula, etc. (preferably heated) before adding to the product.

2. 1-2% solutions of dyes are preliminarily prepared, then the required amount is added to the product.

2.2. natural dyes

Natural (natural) dyes began to be used a very long time ago without any research, including toxicological ones. Most of them are of plant origin and are a mixture of carotenoids, anthocyanins, flavonoids, chlorophyll and other natural ingredients. All of them can be used for food coloring.

Natural food colors derived from plant sources can be classified into major classes of pigment molecules. From the point of view of the possibility of using vegetable coloring substances in the color formation of food products, substances related to betalains, carotenoids and anthocyanins are most widely used.

Betalaines are the only colored compounds of a large group of alkaloids. Betalain pigments accumulate in various plant organs - flowers, roots, stems, leaves. Widely known representatives of betacyanins are betanin from beetroot and amaranthine isolated from the plant Amarantus. The insignificant content of water in betanine beet dye eliminates the possibility of the development of microorganisms, so it does not require preservatives for long-term storage. And at the moment of connection with water, the product completely restores the original qualities of natural beet juice, including color.

Recently, the question of the possibility of using Amaranth for food coloring has been discussed. It should be noted that the natural pigment isolated from the amaranth plant has nothing to do with the synthetic dye of the same name. The use of the dye Amaranth (E123) in Russia was banned in the early 70s, but in the EU countries it is allowed for use in small doses in wine aperitifs, spirits and fish caviar.

Carotenoid yellow and orange pigments are widely distributed in nature. They are present in fruits, vegetables, flowers and are related compounds of chlorophyll. The composition of the pigments is determined by the nature of the raw materials.

Carotenoids are organic compounds that are soluble only in organic solvents. The group of carotenoids includes about 70 plant pigments. The most important of these is beta-carotene. It is found in carrots, from the Latin name of which (carota) this whole group of pigments got its name.

Paprika (E160c) belongs to the group of carotenoids, a natural dye extracted from sweet red peppers native to Europe and North America.

Paprika extract is a fat-soluble (or water-soluble) pigment with a characteristic sweet, spicy aroma. Along with beta-carotene, it contains other beneficial carotenoids, as well as unsaturated fatty acids. Depending on the pigment content, paprika has shades from red to orange.

Imported yellow pigments include dyes from the seeds of the Orleans tree - annatto extract (E160b) and from the root of the turmeric plant (turmeric). The water-soluble form of the dye Annatto showed itself well when coloring natural casings for sausages, delicacies, semi-finished poultry meat, as well as yoghurts and fruit kefir. The shell and products acquire a pleasant golden-yellow hue, which significantly improves the consumer properties of the products. Turmeric, also related to carotenoids, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the ginger family that grows in Asia, Africa, and Northern Australia. Dried turmeric roots serve as a raw material for obtaining a natural yellow dye. Curcumin is insoluble in water and is used in the food industry as an alcoholic solution. Water- and fat-soluble forms of curcumin are recommended for imparting an attractive color to meat and dairy products.

Identical natural dyes are more resistant to heat and light. However, they may contain contaminants that require a toxicological assessment, similar to that carried out with synthetic dyes.

Recently, there has been a tendency to obtain benign food dyes by isolating them from the waste products of biosystems, where microalgae, yeast, and bacteria act as food pigment producers. So, for example, the product of vital activity of mushrooms is red fermented rice. It is obtained by fermenting polished rice with mushrooms of the Monascus species. Mushrooms, developing on the surface of wet rice, release a red pigment. After the end of the fermentation period, the mushrooms are dried to granules or powder.

The resulting red pigment is resistant to light, high temperatures, oxidation of metal ions and pH changes. This dye has a very wide range of applications, including the manufacture of meat, poultry, and fish products.

Raw materials for natural food dyes can also be berries, flowers, leaves, root crops, etc., including in the form of waste from the processing of vegetable raw materials at canning and wineries.

The amount of other chemical compounds - sugary, pectin, protein substances, organic acids, mineral salts, etc. - can exceed the content of colorants by several times.

These substances do not pose a health hazard, and are often even beneficial to humans, but by their presence they reduce the color intensity of the finished product.

In the production of preparations of natural food dyes, side substances, to one degree or another, are disposed of.

Modern technologies make it possible to obtain preparations of natural food dyes with desired properties and a standard content of the main coloring matter.

Obviously, a reduction in the number of synthetic dyes can be achieved by replacing them with natural ones - harmless in all respects. In addition, natural food dyes contain, in addition to coloring pigments, other biologically active components: vitamins, organic acids, glycosides, aromatic substances. Therefore, the direction of expanding the range of food colors that are of natural origin, do not include carcinogens and toxic substances, is especially relevant at the present time.

CONCLUSION

The color of a food product is of great importance for the consumer: it is not only an indicator of the freshness and quality of the product, but also a necessary characteristic of its recognition. The dyes present in the product are responsible for the color of the product. They may be found naturally in it (beets, carrots, egg yolk, etc.) or may be added during processing. Dyes restore the natural color lost during processing and storage; increase the intensity of natural color; color colorless products, such as soft drinks, giving them an attractive appearance and color variety. Dyes are divided into organic and inorganic; into fat-, water-soluble and pigments (insoluble neither in water nor in fat). Dyes are not considered colored food products (tomato and other juices, spinach, ground dry beets, carrots, etc.).

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

1. Anikina E. Edible color: benefit or harm? // Food market. - 2009. - No. 26.

2. Who invented synthetic dyes and how [Electronic resource]: http://www.senav.net/2008/07/05/kto_i_kak_pridumal_sinteticheskie_krasiteli.html

3. Food identical to natural // Ekovestnik [Electronic resource]: http://ecolog.ucoz.ru/publ/4-1-0-133

4. Food additives, dyes and preservatives [Electronic resource]: http://www.fictionbook.ru/author/bez_avtora/pisheviye_dobavki_krasiteli_i_konservantiy/

5. Food colorings [Electronic resource]: http://www.giord.ru/0705210501588.php#2

Natural food colorings - easy, environmentally friendly and useful 95% of the information a person perceives with the help of the eyes, and making a dish brighter means making it more attractive. So, the juicy burgundy color of borscht or a multi-colored salad definitely stimulates the appetite. It is on this that the demand for food coloring in cooking is based.

For thousands of years, people have successfully used the gifts of nature, extracting food colors from them. Now we have incomparably more opportunities for such research - let's see how you can prepare natural food colors at home and what requirements we have for them.

Requirement 1 - Natural dye

Exclusively natural materials - extracts, pomace and juices, decoctions and tinctures from seeds and fruits of plants, from leaves and bark. Animal materials are not used to color food due to their strong characteristic taste, difficulty in obtaining and short shelf life.

Requirement 2 - Food coloring means edible

This requirement implies not only the edibility of the dye, but also a minimum of its own taste. Ideally, the dye should be completely tasteless (onion peel) or add some zest along with the color (citrus zest or coffee). The taste of the coloring should not affect the taste of the final product, but this is difficult to implement in reality - and a separate problem when using natural colors is the result of mixing flavors and aromas.

Requirement 3 - Coloring food

This requirement includes durability and invariability of color - at least for a short time, although natural dyes definitely lose out to synthetic ones in these parameters.

How to make natural food coloring at home

The beauty of natural food colors is their availability. These are the foods that we eat almost every day, familiar and healthy, inexpensive and accessible. Beets, carrots, spinach, spices, bright berries and citrus fruits - this is our rich arsenal at home.

The answer to the question “what to make natural food colors from” is at hand in every kitchen.
We can use:
1. Freshly squeezed juices from colored foods.
2. Shredded and fried their pulp.
3. Direct addition of fresh pulp to the final product.
Feel free to focus on the original color of the vegetable or fruit: if the beets are already dark red, then we will not get an orange or green dye from it. Accordingly, green spinach will not give us a red dye, no matter what we do with it.
However, with natural dyes, the same principles of mixing paints apply as with watercolors, gouache or synthetic dyes. If you want orange dye, mix red and yellow. Need green - mix yellow and blue food coloring.

How to Get Red Food Coloring and Pink Food Coloring

Beets and fresh red berries (raspberries, lingonberries, cherries) serve as sources to help get red food coloring and pink food coloring.
Contrary to popular belief, beets will not give us a rich red color - depending on the concentration, we will get shades from pale pink to burgundy. Grate fresh beets on a fine grater and simmer them in a small amount of water over low heat. When the beets are stewed and "give up color", squeeze the liquid through cheesecloth or a fine sieve. For a more vibrant and long-lasting color, add half a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
For a pure red, use freshly squeezed lingonberry juice, but don't forget its characteristic sour taste.
Raspberries will give various shades of pinkish and raspberry, cherry - darker shades of red.
If you use such natural dyes for cream, a few drops of juice will be enough to give an interesting shade.

Dye blue natural food

A pleasant blue and blue color is obtained using blueberries, blueberries or red cabbage. It is most convenient to crush blueberries or blueberries in a sieve or mesh colander and add the resulting natural blue food coloring to cream or dough.
Red cabbage juice gives an interesting blue or blue color. It is good to color boiled egg white with this juice and decorate salads with it.

yellow food coloring

Carrots, sea buckthorn, turmeric, saffron, citrus fruits give sunny shades of yellow and orange. Carrots - the most affordable option: grate bright carrots on a fine grater and fry them over low heat in vegetable oil. Squeeze the resulting slurry through gauze or through a thick sieve.
Sea buckthorn berry juice can be added to creams or dough, it will give us the same cheerful yellow tint.
Turmeric can be found in any spice section and is also a good option for yellow food coloring. Pour a tablespoon of dry powder with warm water or alcohol, hold for a day in a dark place and strain. Turmeric is a budget option for saffron, it doesn’t give such an amazing taste, but it works very well as a food coloring.

Green food coloring

The soft green color gives us spinach. There are two options: - use freshly squeezed juice of leaves and stems - stew chopped spinach in water and then rub the gruel through a thick sieve.
Spinach green food coloring is often used to color dough.

Synthetic dyes and their invented harm

The volumes of consumption of dyes are growing year by year, the requirements for the quality and safety of food colors are growing even faster - and manufacturers are simply forced to meet the needs of buyers.
The prototypes for many synthetic dyes are natural dyes. So, for example, curcumin or carotene are almost identical in composition to natural ones. In addition, the quality and safety of synthetic food colors is controlled by the WHO International Commission; all allowed for use are included in the Food Code - a code of quality standards for food and semi-finished products, which includes food additives.

Synthetic food additives are easier to use than natural ones, do not require preliminary preparation and special storage conditions, can be stored for a long time and definitely will not change the taste of cream or dough.
If you want to get not just pleasant shades, but bright natural colors - we offer you all types of food colors available today: dry, gel, liquid.

Proven manufacturers, guaranteed fresh and high-quality products, a huge selection of useful and pleasant little things for cooking - a supermarket for confectioners will do everything to make the cooking process a real pleasure for you.

Before telling you about how to use food coloring at home, you should tell what this product is.

This is a group of synthetic or natural dyes that are used to color food in different colors.

It should be especially noted that such an ingredient began to be used in cooking several centuries ago. So, in ancient Egypt, they colored wine and sweets, as well as other foods and drinks. But by the end of the 18th century, the food industry had developed so much that it began to use a wide range of this product as an additive to completely different dishes, including to mask the poor quality of the main ingredients. In addition, natural dyes were often used for decorative purposes.

How are food colorings used at home? We will tell you about this a little lower. Now I want to talk about what types these additives are divided into.

As you know, dyes for changing the color of individual products are divided into 3 main types:

synthetic;
natural;
dye identical to natural.

Let's take a closer look at what exactly is their difference.

Food coloring for cakes and other products does not have to be natural. That is why, when buying pastries or other sweets in the store, you should pay special attention to their composition.

So, synthetic dyes are additives that do not occur in nature. In other words, they were made in a laboratory or factory.

It should be especially noted that for safety reasons, these substances must be thoroughly tested and tested for the possibility of consumption.

To recognize such additives in the composition (on the product packaging), we present several options:

Dye E124 (another name for Ponceau 4R). Such a crimson additive has a chemical origin. It is a salt (sodium), which can be in the form of granules or red powder. It cannot be said that, despite the fact that such a dye is approved for use, it is classified as a substance hazardous to health.
Azo dyes (another name is amaranth or C 2 0H 11 N 2 Na 3 O 10 S 3) and so on.

So, natural dyes are made from natural sources. Among them, the following can be noted: herbs, fruit peels, vegetable leaves, seeds and roots of plants, various fruits, berries, etc.

As you can see, the extraction of natural nutritional supplements is a rather laborious and lengthy process that costs a lot of time and effort, as well as significant financial costs.

It should be noted that additives made in this way are much cheaper and better.

Identical dye for water and solids - a compound that is divided into the following chemical classes:

Indigoid, which were found by experts in beets. It should be noted that such an additive is very similar to carmine. Their color almost completely coincides (bright red or burgundy).
Flavonoids found in many fruits, flowers and vegetables. Thanks to them, food manufacturers began to use a wide palette of colors during the production of confectionery and other products.
Carotenoids. This substance is found in tomatoes, carrots, oranges, as well as in most plants.

Features of natural and identical natural dyes

It does not matter which dyes (identical to natural, natural or synthetic) are used for the production of a particular product. The main thing is that they meet all the necessary requirements:

Harmlessness. In other words, the substance used in the prescribed dosage should not harm the human body. It should be free of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and in no case should they have a pronounced biological activity.
Color fastness. Any food coloring must be resistant to light, reducing agents and oxidizing agents, as well as changes in temperature and acid-base environment.
A high degree of coloration of certain products at low concentrations of the added substance. For example, the dye carmine (color - red) should give the product a rich color, even in small quantities.
The ability to dissolve in fats or water. Moreover, absolutely all dyes should be evenly distributed in the total mass of food products (without the appearance of specks, stains, etc.).

We described above how food colorings are classified by origin. However, I would like to tell you about what types they are divided into according to their structure.

So, food coloring agents can be:

Let's consider them in more detail.

Such food additives are very often used for coloring creams and other confectionery products. Moreover, they are often used by airbrushes, as well as to give a particular color to the protein-drawing mass.

It should also be noted that liquid food coloring is best suited for coloring homemade sugar mastic. They are simply added to the base instead of ordinary drinking water. It should also be noted that natural liquid dyes are most common. Although sometimes they can be found in the form of synthetic additives.

Dry (powder) food coloring is the most economical option and is most often used in large-scale food production.

Due to their saturation and dense consistency, such substances can significantly reduce dosages. And this leads to a significant reduction in cash costs when decorating various confectionery products.

Powder or dry dyes are universal. They can be used on various surfaces (e.g. marzipan, mastic, caramel, chocolate, edible paper, etc.).

It should also be noted that dry substances can be easily added to confectionery masses and neutral cold gel, as they are fat-soluble colorants. Due to this, the manufacturer is able to make completely different products, significantly changing their color.

Gel food colorings are concentrates of coloring gels. Most often they are used in the confectionery industry. So, with the help of these substances, sugar mastic is colored, as well as marzipan, fudge, icing, creams and cream, chocolate icing, chocolate and other products that are made on the basis of granulated sugar.

If you decide to use gel food coloring in your production, then you should know what advantages they have.

The method of applying gel dyes is quite simple. To do this, the amount of additive required to obtain a certain color interferes with the bulk of the product to be dyed.

As a rule, such a component is sold in plastic jars or tubes.

During the production of a food product where coloring is added, it is recommended to consider the following:

with an increase in fat, as well as prolonged mixing of the product, the intensity and degree of its staining decreases markedly;
the acidity of the medium has a direct effect on the shade of color and the intensity of color;
an increase in the amount of ascorbic acid reduces the intensity of the color of the finished product;
some synthetic and natural dyes in solutions may discolour when exposed to light;
heat treatment does not change the shade and color intensity of the product made on the basis of synthetic food dyes;
magnesium and calcium ions, which are contained in hard water, often precipitate with dyes;
in fermented milk products, synthetic dyes become colorless within a few hours;
natural dyes are not recommended for coloring products that are intended for long-term storage;
natural dyes are not recommended to be exposed to high temperatures;
for dyeing fermented milk products in a reddish hue, it is better to use beetroot dye or carmines, which are most stable at a pH of 2 to 7.

Origin of food coloring Abstract: Natural and synthetic food colors

A bit of history

Types of food coloring

natural

Synthetic

Azo dyes

Triarylmethane

xanthic

indigoid

Inorganic

Natural and synthetic food colors

general information

Substance classification

Synthetic dyes

Examples of synthetic dyes

Features of substances

natural dyes

Dye identical to natural

Chemical classes of natural dyes

Features of natural and identical natural dyes

Requirements for food coloring

What are the groups of dyes?

Gel supplements

Features of the use of food coloring

Summing up

INTRODUCTION

1. From the history of dyes

2. Food coloring: difference in characteristics and similarity in requirements

2.1 Synthetic dyes

2.2. natural dyes

CONCLUSION

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

Requirement 1 - Natural dye

Requirement 2 - Food coloring means edible

Requirement 3 - Coloring food

How to make natural food coloring at home

How to Get Red Food Coloring and Pink Food Coloring

Dye blue natural food

yellow food coloring

Green food coloring

Synthetic dyes and their invented harm

Features of natural and identical natural dyes

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