Keeping food and beverage labels clean, or lacking in synthetic substances, may prove difficult for processors, but the tactic also may help them target the increasing organic and all-natural markets. These two trends have led color ingredient suppliers to introduce a flurry of organic or all-natural lines over the past year.
    Working with natural colors probably will require more time, said Margaret A. Lawson, vice-president of science and innovation for D.D. Williamson, Louisville, Ky. The pH status may affect outcomes as can light stability and heat stability.
    “There is an intuitive science behind getting the right natural color,” said Ms. Lawson, who is a past president of the Institute of Food Technologists. “You need to really understand how natural colors function under those conditions.”
   Colors that are exempt from certification by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration may be considered natural. They include pigments derived from natural sources such as vegetables, minerals or animals. The National Organic Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture certifies whether colors are organic.
   Besides knowing the difference between organic and natural, food and beverage processors also should know which natural colors that do not qualify as organic might still work in finished products qualifying as organic.

   A product qualifies for the U.S.D.A.’s organic seal if at least 95% is organic and the remaining non-agricultural (non-organic) substances appear on a national list of allowed substances. The list may be found at www.ams.usda.gov. The government is taking petitions from those who believe ingredients need to be added or subtracted from the list, Ms. Lawson said. A chance exists the government will alter the list in 2007, she added.

    Formulators already may find caramel color certified organic by the U.S.D.A. D.D. Williamson in 2005 introduced sucrose-based caramel color and caramelized rice syrup, both certified organic by the U.S.D.A…

Posted with permission from Director of Publishing, FOOD BUSINESS NEWS