When was the last time you’ve had salmon sushi or enjoyed a refreshing bottle of Coke? Believe
it or not, these foods are coloured, because the demand for food has caused the natural colour to not
match what we expect. We all want salmon, but none of us want gray or whatever colour salmon.
Before you start a social media crisis for the salmon industry, it’s worthwhile to point out that the
colouring is something pretty much the same chemical that’s in natural salmon food (fish). It’s
safe to eat, but if you’re so grossed out by it you can limit your consumption or get the wild ones
(for about twice to three times the price). It doesn’t help that Canada’s salmon was experiencing
difficulty getting upstream due to environmental changes, so the actual price is probably higher.
To feed all of us humans, we need food colouring. Without food colouring a lot of our food would
look disgusting, so think of it as food cosmetics. Imagine skittles all off-white or yellowish, yum!
You may think of food colouring as a relatively new concept, but people have been dying food
for centuries. Of course, back then all the Egyptians could cook up were some plant extracts and
wine to may food look a bit more appetizing. When the industrial revolution came rolling, a lot
of really dangerous synthetic food colours were used. Red lead, vermillion, Prussian blue, stuff
you’d expect in textiles NOT food. People actually died eating lozenges and drinking tea, that’s
how bad it got. Nowadays we have the European Union (EU) and the Food and Drug
Association (FDA) and they have lists of approved artificial and natural food colours.
Natural food dyes are additives that come from natural sources, like caramelized sugar, seeds,
and insects. Blue is very rare, and it’s a constant challenge to develop more. Technically they
exist but there are issues with shelf life and the food matrix. Some common natural dyes include:
carotenoids, chlorophyll, anthocyanin, turmeric, and betanin.
Carotenoids are anywhere between deep red to yellow in colour and are very common. A common
one is beta-carotene, which is what makes pumpkins and sweet potatoes orange. Since beta-
carotene is soluble in fat, it’s also seen in cheese and margarine. They serve to collect light energy
in plants and various animals eat food containing the pigments (i.e. lobsters,
flamingos, salmon, etc.). Humans also need the pigment for our eyes so eat your vegetables!
Chlorophyll is found in all leafy green plants and is the cornerstone of the
photosynthesis process. But did you know it’s also a natural food
colouring? It’s gained popularity as a healthy alternative for artificial food dyes and
you can find this colouring minty or lime snacks but since it’s affected by pH, temperature,
lighting, and air its uses are limited (i.e. ice cream). There’s a group of more stable, semi-synthetic
salts made from this called chlorophyllin that sees use in medicine.
Some blue natural food colourings come from a group of compounds called anthocyanins. They’re anywhere from black to deep purple to a kind of blue, and they can be found in blueberries, grapes, black soybeans, and purple cauliflower. These are water-soluble, so they are very easy to use in foods. We’re talking sodas, jelly, even blue tortilla chips. Anthocyanins are reported by some studies to contain antioxidants capable of staving off cancer,
to which the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says:
1) There is no basis for a beneficial antioxidant effect from dietary anthocyanins in
humans.
2) There is no evidence of a cause and effect relationship between the consumption of
anthocyanin-rich foods and protection of DNA, proteins and lipids from oxidative
damage.
3) There is no evidence generally for consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods having any
“antioxidant”, “anti-cancer”, “anti-ageing”, or “healthy ageing” effects.
As of 2019, there are no clinical trials that can counter what the EFSA Panel on Dietetic
Products, Nutrition and Allergies (2010) stated.
A while back turmeric was all the rage for its health benefits, something about reducing
inflammations. I personally know this subterranean stem, seeing it in traditional Chinese
pharmacies since I was five. It’s also prevalent in Indian curry, with its almost mustard-like
flavour. But what if I told you turmeric can also be used as a natural food dye? Some companies
turn to use spices to colour their foods. It also functions as a good acid/base indicator because when you
put something basic in it it turns red.
Do you like to drink cranberry juice or eat strawberry-flavour yogurt? Are you somebody who
frequents deep red cosmetics? Do you want to know what all these have in common? They can
all be coloured by carmine, a natural food dye made from carminic acid. The extraction of
carminic acid is quite labour-intensive though, you have to crush about 70,000 beetles called
cochineals to produce a single pound of this stuff. Yep, this is the infamous Natural Red 4. The
Aztecs once used this to dye clothes, and production was seen in Persia since at least the Middle
Ages. Carmine or E.120 in the EU list of food additives has been proven to cause allergic
reactions in rare cases, but at the moment both the FDA and the EU are ok because it poses no
threat to the general public. The EFSA, however, decided to at the very least pull it from
medicines; using artificial colours instead.
The purpose of this article isn’t to tell you to suddenly trust food colours. After all, there are still artificial colours to go over. But now that you’re just a bit more knowledgeable than you were before, is it helpful towards making a decision? We live in blessed times, you can choose to eat however you want and there are enough alternatives to support that. Granted, it may cost you a bit more, especially when you eat out. There might be an article on artificial colours coming soon, so until then have fun researching on your own! Lofi makes even the most monotonous work bearable.
Comments are closed