With the improvement of living standards, the use of natural extracts as additives in various industries has been increasing in recent years, and the use of natural colors in product coloring is also very common. The following content is compiled from the thread initiated by the moderator “aing (color customization)” in the Food Forum, which answers and discusses the various problems encountered by the forum members in the application of natural extracts and natural pigments for your reference.

Discussion 1: Currently using chili red / turmeric / gardenia yellow / cochineal orange, need to pay attention to what problems?

aing: Chili red is mainly concerned about the settlement and light resistance problem, turmeric is mainly concerned about the solubility and solvent residue problem, gardenia yellow okay, but also need to pay attention to gardenia glycosides content, high later products will be green, carmine orange is mainly concerned about the light stability problem.

Discussion 2: green natural pigment stability? For example, chlorophyll copper sodium salt

aing: pigment instability is possible, but in the use of the process do not pay attention to hygiene, infection caused by bacteria pigment deterioration is also possible. Chlorophyllin copper sodium salt in Ph4.5 or less unstable, which is the nature of the neutral as well as alkaline aspects are still good, compounding of green can choose different raw materials to meet the requirements of the can have heat resistance, acid resistance and light resistance are very good.

Discussion 3: Which red pigments have good effect of acid resistance, light resistance and high temperature resistance? If you want to use red coloring, it is better than cochineal red and temptation red, now the drink will fade under the light with these two experiments.

aing: you can recommend some natural red pigment, in addition to red currant red and a few other natural red pigment is not acid-resistant, most of the natural red pigment is more acid-resistant, as for the need for light, acid and also heat-resistant, then, it is recommended to use the purple gelatin red, however, need to pay attention to is the purple gelatin red solubility is relatively small, to be very good to dissolve the need for a certain technology.

Discussion 4: ready to develop a barley wakame baking products, found that the natural chlorophyll of barley wakame will be stored with the product for a longer period of time, the color will fade so much that the product packaging do not dare to design a transparent, so the customer experience is not good, please advise, there is a way to improve the stability of the natural green color retention?

aing: Chlorophyll itself is very unstable. It is recommended to add a small amount of antioxidant stabilizers, in addition, you can add compound natural green pigments to assist, so that the product to maintain the appearance of turquoise. For example, chlorophyllin copper sodium salt or gardenia blue gardenia green compound gardenia green can be used in baking products, see your color to find the corresponding compound manufacturers on the line.

Discussion 5: please teach bright green, bright blue and lemon yellow how to mix? Which green is high temperature resistant?

aing：Color mixing is best to find professional compound pigment manufacturers more directly and quickly. If natural green, gardenia green high temperature resistance situation is not bad.

Discussion 6: What is the development prospect of dragon fruit red pigment?

aing: dragon fruit red pigment is mainly anthocyanin pigment, has certain physiological activity and health care function, the development and application scenario is certainly good, as pigment belongs to food additives, the promotion of the road may be relatively long, as concentrated fruit juice is a food raw material, may promote the application of the convenient, in addition, although the dragon fruit pigment content is relatively high, but the price is also relatively high, raw material cost needs to be considered.

Discussion 7: pepper seed melanin poor light resistance, good heat resistance at 0 ℃ -80 ℃; when p H <5 melanin precipitation, p h = “”> 7 when the absorbance value increases and the color deepens; poor stability of KMn O4, K2Cr2O7, Na2SO3; the pigment added to a solution of metal ions Mg2 +, Fe2 +, Zn2 +, K +, Cu2 + and Fe3 + produces precipitation, in which Cu2+ and Fe3+ have a color-enhancing effect, and Mg2+, Fe2+, Zn2+, Ca2+, Cr3+, Sn4+, and K+ have a color-reducing effect; the addition of sucrose, starch, and salt has basically no effect on the stability of the pigment. What kind of field is melanin with such properties more suitable for?

aing: Natural pigments should be kept pure as much as possible, try not to add substances other than pigments, keep the natural nature, most natural pigments are sensitive to metal ions, and most metal ions will accelerate the denaturation and degradation of natural pigments, affecting the stability. As for the field of application, according to the scope of application to be declared and approved in the future, it is not possible to use it whenever you want. In addition, the problem of precipitation can be figured out.

Discussion 8: Is there any specific requirement on the use of natural coloring?

aing: Specific food specific analysis:

1. GB2760 stipulates that natural coloring can be used on food.

2. Production process, temperature, PH, metal ions and so on.

3. The color of the food to be thought and the color that can be used according to GB2760.

4. Shelf life of the product and transportation, packaging, etc.

5. The use process must be adjusted according to the physical and chemical properties of the natural coloring to the use of the environment (temperature, PH, packaging, etc.)

6. Your company’s costing, etc.

Discussion 9: Currently export products with kale extract (kale red pigment), plum products, flavoring solution and plum itself PH is extremely low, estimated 3.0 or so, please ask this kind of there are no other natural pigments with similar color, can also be replaced.

aing: kale red has a stinky savory taste that is hard to get rid of, and may indeed affect the flavor of the product. pH 3.0 is not a problem, using compound natural pigments can be adjusted to any shade of color, and can be a complete replacement for kale red pigment.

Discussion 10: Is there any oil-soluble blue pigment applied to paste products?

aing: can have, but temporarily color price can not be too high oh. Such as blue is gardenia blue, can be well dispersed in the oil.

Discussion 11: we are now bread crumbs inside the matcha powder, before using chlorophyll, also used the compound coloring, but the effect is not good, high temperature heating after the finished product color will be very bad. Is there any natural coloring that can achieve this color and how stable is it?

aing: Chlorophyll is definitely not possible. According to the needs and regulations to choose raw materials compounded with matcha powder color tones of natural green pigments can meet the requirements of high temperature and light resistance than matcha powder is much better, will not change color, to maintain the turquoise. Try a few more, there will be suitable.

Discussion 12: The stability of natural coloring needs to be improved

aing: Yes, the stability of natural pigment generally needs to be improved, but according to the product attributes of the targeted selection of natural pigment varieties will help to improve the stability of natural pigments, the appropriate use of some stabilizers can also improve the stability of natural pigments to a certain extent.

Discussion 13: We have made a mango jam with carotene, but it is prone to browning after too long a period of time, can this natural coloring be solved?

aing: The browning may be caused by your jam’s stabilization system which is not perfect, it is recommended to improve the stabilization system of the product, and the use of natural coloring can’t prevent the browning. If the problem is color fading, you can consider using natural coloring.

Discussion 14: How to solve the problem of light resistance of chili red?

aing: add light stabilizer, improve light stability, can largely improve the light stability of chili red, if the application of manufacturers, it is recommended that the direct procurement of chili red can be better stability, there is no need to improve their own chili red light resistance, improve chili red light stability work generally in the chili red factory should be done, it is not recommended that the later application of the manufacturer to do.

Discussion 15: In the production of throat lozenges, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the three additives, peppermint oil, menthol and menthol ester? Why is it that commercially available throat lozenges basically have more menthol?

aing: The stability and usability of peppermint oil and menthol ester will be more troublesome, for example, the state of the material, volatility, solubility, etc., which increases the difficulty of application, while the usability of menthol is very flexible, and in addition, the cost is also a problem.

Discussion 16: In baked food, how to control the stability of natural coloring to heat and light?

aing: Choose some natural pigments with relatively good performance of high temperature resistance, auxiliary color protection and color preservation process, in addition, as far as possible, do not go through high temperature treatment for a long time, generally will not lose too serious. Light stability as long as the natural pigment process to take some color protection means, you can receive good results.

Discussion 17: I use the red currant red to make chicken seasoning products, in the cold storage after a month, the color will become dark red. The customer is not willing to replace the other coloring. What can I do?

aing: The darkening of the color of red currant for frozen meat products is certain, and the problem can only be solved by using red currant as the main body and compounding with other pigments.

Discussion 18: What is the best natural coloring for shrimp balls?

aing: Use chili red, special color can be adjusted by compounding.

Discussion 19: We use spinach powder, but in the process of using it, the color is often insufficient, the color is light, for this problem, do you have any good suggestions, are there any key indicators for each batch of raw materials for testing?

aing: spinach powder to be stable need to do enough to protect the color of the color of the effort, in addition to the properties of the product can be configured according to the natural green pigment auxiliary coloring, spinach powder green intensity, can be used to test the chlorophyll content of the evaluation of the content of each batch of products in the chlorophyll content of the same indicator can be controlled in order to maintain the same hue of the products in each batch.

Discussion 20: Generally speaking, the light resistance of pigment is relatively poor, where is the light stabilizer generally used?

aing: This is a lot, some surfactants, colloids, antioxidants, etc., as well as some substances that can absorb ultraviolet rays can be, but the general effect of monomer substances is not very good, and the cost is high, generally optimized after screening the effect of the compound stabilizers will be better, and can be appropriately reduced costs, cost-effective. But not all pigments can use stabilizers to improve light resistance.

Discussion 21: Is there any pigment that shows different colors under different temperatures? Or pigments with different colors under different ph (anthocyanins are known)?

aing: different temperatures present different colors of natural food coloring is not much, different PH value of different colors is quite a lot, anthocyanins and curcumin outside the demarcation point is very clear PH7.0 up and down is very obvious, cochineal red, violet red and so on will change.

Discussion 22: the future development direction of natural coloring?

aing: The future direction of natural pigments is personalized application of compounding products for various products. In the process of compounding, the stability of solubility, mutual solubility, heat resistance, light resistance, acid and alkali resistance will be improved.

Discussion 23: We added carmine in the edible effervescent tablets, the effervescent tablets and its aqueous solution to pink, but the effervescent tablets made within two weeks after the pink color into a light orange, while some of the leftover raw materials not pressed powder discoloration is not obvious, the two are stored under the same conditions, which is the reason for it? If I want to use natural coloring to mix the pink color, which one is more stable?

aing: discoloration of a pigment is unstable, a pigment and a certain raw material conflict caused by fading, after the tablet fading faster is the pigment and conflict with the ingredients in closer contact, the reaction with the full, so the fading is faster, the pink, you can try cochineal red, if the hue of the special should be adjusted with the method of compounding.

Discussion 24: What kind of natural red coloring can withstand 200 degrees? Water-soluble red coloring for braising sauce

aing: Use a stable chili red with carmine red should be fine.

Discussion 25: What kind of natural coloring is suitable for ketchup if it is not red enough?

aing: red, chili red, carmine red and other shades are close, the specific color may need to be compounded to the best, in addition, add the pigment needs to meet the requirements of GB2760 Oh!

Discussion 26: How to adjust the pink, with what coloring? On hand there are sweet orchid red, purple sweet potato red, radish red, reddish red pigments

aing: If your product is acidic, maybe a small amount of kale red, purple sweet potato red or radish red, or carmine red is enough, but also combined with the product’s base color to adjust, in order to achieve the ideal tone of the oh.

Discussion 27: Do you use reddish red/reddish yellow? I feel that the poultry meat products after frozen color fading problem is serious!

aing: Red yeast yellow can be used in combination with carotene which has good light resistance, and red yeast red can also be used in combination with red natural pigment which has good light resistance, of course the precondition is that it meets the requirements of GB2760 and is allowed to use.

Discussion 28: Natural coloring is easy to fade, and some fat-soluble coloring does not dissolve well in beverages, which is also a problem.

aing: now the stability of natural pigments to do a good job, its stability is still good; as for fat-soluble natural pigments to do a good job of emulsification modification of the stability of the system, dissolved in the drink is not a problem, fat-soluble natural pigments emulsification system to do a good job, and even can be approximated to be dissolved in water, the water solution is clear and transparent, the effect is very good, such as paprika, lutein, carotenoids, astaxanthin, Lycopene and so on can be done to achieve clear and transparent aqueous solution, and anti-light performance is particularly good.

Discussion 29: Customers require to choose those varieties which are rich in resources, low cost, stable pigment, colorful, non-toxic, harmless, market demand, and need to use new resources to extract new varieties in the future work, for the stability of the existing natural pigments to light, heat, PH, metal ions, extraction processes and methods of research.

aing: stable performance, safety, natural, cost-effective is the application of the customer’s choice. The use of compounding technology, natural pigments on light, heat, pH stability can already do a very good job, or can be customized on demand, some of the performance has been able to surpass the synthetic pigments, for the stability of metal ions, this is a big topic, from the product safety and stability point of view, a variety of products itself on the presence of metal ions need to be strictly controlled, which is a common problem, it’s difficult for natural pigments to go beyond their own nature to do without fear of Metal ions.

Discussion 30: Chili red has poor stability and fades fast! What’s wrong with it?

aing: This is the nature of chili red, it is sensitive to ultraviolet light, especially at 280nm long time to receive irradiation is easy to degrade and fade, but there is no need to worry, now there are improved chili red products, light resistance is very good chili red, in the sunlight irradiation are fading very slowly, you can keep the product in the shelf life of the color of bright red.

Discussion 31: How to deal with brown meat?

aing: you can consider compounding natural pigments, or sorghum red to try, but sorghum red tone is fixed, personalized products are best to use compounded natural pigments to meet the needs.