All About Food Coloring And Its Properties

By Author: Dharmesh Aegis
Total Articles: 105
Comment this article

Food colours are extensively used in different types of foods and these colors are usually water soluble. An amazing variety of food dishes use food coloring among which some of them include sauces, soups, sweets, canned and bottled fruits, vegetables, ice creams, soft drinks, cheese, jams, pickles etc. There are primary colors in food colours and some of these primary food colors include sunset yellow, Ponceau 4R, Red 2G, allura red, brilliant blue FCF, chocolate brown HT, brilliant black pin, Carmoisine and Sunset Yellow.

Color additives that are made for foods are known as dyes or lakes. Lakes or also known as lake pigment is a kind of pigment that is created through precipitating dye with a substance called mordant such as metallic salt. Lakes are a combination of dyes with salts and are therefore insoluble whereas dyes are soluble. Lakes are more stable and are apt for coloring those foods that have fats and do not have sufficient moisture. Some of the foods that are colored with lakes are cake, doughnut mixes, candies, chewing gum and coated tablets. Some of the lake colors include Lake Sunset yellow FCF, Lake Tartrazine, ...
... Lake indigo carmine, lake chocolate brown HT, lake brilliant blue FCF, lake allura red and lake carmoisine.

Food coloring in the right manner is essential and therefore coloring has to be done in a manner that the food is completely free from any kind of toxins. This is the first consideration that has to come to mind when coloring a certain food. Some of the properties that need to be concentrated upon are water solubility, edible oils, and alcoholic solvents and should not produce any kind of a reaction when it comes in contact with other components in foods such as alkalies, flavoring materials, acids and preservatives.

It is also important to keep in mind that the colors should be used after given complete consideration because of excess of it can cause harmful effects. Hence, there is restrictive control on the kind of food items that the color can be applied. Therefore it is a good idea to see the properties that are permissible when coloring foods.

Food color properties

" Hues: According to broad indications, the hues are generally accepted because they are free from the effects of processing.
" Solubility: This is a property that is very important because food dyes have to be soluble and in most cases the solvents are water, alcohols and vegetable oils.
" Fastness: The third property is the fastness of dyes and there are no specific methods or standards to test if the dye used is fast in color. A general indication is what one gets on the kind of applications that the dyes are suitable for.

For More Info:- Lake Colors | Food Colours