The unique color of “black” food brings a lot of buzz to the product itself, and combined with digital marketing, it can bring unexpected benefits to the brand.

Undoubtedly, the anti-classic, anti-routine “black” food concept helps brands to quickly open up the market and capture consumers’ attention, and is an efficient choice for brands to gain high attention in a short period of time.
What are the most common black food additives?

Black Food Additives

There are only two types of black additives that have been approved for use in food, one is “iron oxide black” and the other is “vegetable carbon black”.

1.1 Iron oxide black
According to GB 2760, iron oxide black can only be used in the coating of candy and chocolate products, and the maximum use amount is 0.02g/kg.

According to GB 1886.251-2016 National Standard for Food Safety Food Additives Iron Oxide Black, the food additive iron oxide black is made from ferrous salt by air oxidation method.

Iron oxide black has a wide range of uses, for example, it is found in iron absorbers, but the iron oxide black used for food needs to control the amount of heavy metal impurities.

1.2 Plant carbon black
Plant carbon black can be used in some cold drinks, dried beans, nuts, candy, cookies, pastries, spices and so on.

According to GB 28308-2012 National Standard for Food Safety Food Additives Plant Carbon Black, the food additive plant carbon black is made from plants, carbonized and refined.

Since there is a high-temperature process, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as benzo(a)pyrene, are easily produced if not handled properly, so the plant carbon black used for food has a strict limitation on this index.

It should be noted that activated carbon is often used as an adsorbent in the food industry, but it cannot be added directly to food.

And even if you eat activated charcoal, it won’t help you detoxify your body, on the contrary it can also adsorb nutrients and affect digestion and absorption.

Natural black additives

If you are a food lover, you may have eaten cuttlefish dumplings and umami rice.

The black color inside the cuttlefish dumplings is the ink of the cuttlefish, while the black color of the umami rice is the product of the leaves of the umami tree, maple tree and other plants. The mechanism of producing these two kinds of black is basically the same, both of which are catalyzed by biological enzymes to produce melanin.

The main components of the ink of cuttlefish are squid melanin and proteins, fats, polysaccharides, etc. It also contains trace substances such as toxins that paralyze natural enemies and prey, but it is basically denatured during the cooking process and is harmless to human health.

The black pigment of umami, on the other hand, is a function of polyphenol oxidase, which is common in plants and is associated with the formation of the color of black tea and pu-erh tea.

In the food industry, however, polyphenol oxidase is often a bad thing, because it makes food lose its bright luster, such as the discoloration of cut apples because of it. That’s why the food industry needs to use antioxidants, high temperature and pressure to fight against polyphenol oxidase and maintain the natural color of food.