Feel Colorful? Let's see what is inside your foods!

Food coloring is added to change the color of any food substance. It is mainly for sensory analysis purposes. It can be used to simulate the natural color of a product as awared by the customer, such as red dye like FD&C Red No.40 (Allura Red AC) to ketchup or to add unnatural colors to certain product like Kellogg's Froot Loops. Caramel is a natural food dye which is the most widely used food coloring and is found in food from soft drinks, soy sauce, bread, pickles and so on. 

Food coloring consists of two types, nature food coloring and artificial food coloring. Not all food coloring are safe to eat, neither nature nor artificial. Nature food coloring usually obtain from nature, mostly from plants, example, from seeds, flowers and so on. Those below are the sample of food coloring and its sources:

Sample of food coloring	Color	Sources
Annatto (E160b)	Reddish-orange	Seeds of achiote
Betanin (E162)	Brick red	Beetroot
Butterfly pea	Blue	Clitoria Ternatea
Caramel coloring (E150)	Brown	Caramelized sugar
Chlorophyllin (E140)	Green	Chlorella algae
Elderberry juice	Dark purple	Elderberry
Lycopene (E160d)	Tomato red	Tomato
Cochineal (E120)	Red	Dactylopius coccus
Pandan	Green	Pandanus amaryllifolius
Paprika (E160c)	Red	Paprika
Curcuminoids (E100)	Yellowish-orange	Turmeric

BETANIN

Betanin is a red glycosidic food dye that can be obtained from beets. Its aglycone which is called betanidin is obtained by hydrolyzing away the glucose molecule. Betanin degrades when situated under light, heat and oxygen. Therefore, it is used in frozen products, product with short shelf life or products sold in dry state. 

Its source is red beetroot. It is available in concentrated solutions produced by evaporating beet juice under vacuum or as powders made by spraying-drying the concentrated solutions.

Betanin can survive pasteurization when in products with high sugar content. Pasteurisation is a process of heating food to a specific temperature for a predefined length of time and then immediately cooling it after it is removed from the heat. This process slows spoilage caused by microbial growth in the food. The sensitivity of betanin to oxygen is the highest in the products with high content of water or containing cation like iron ion or copper ion. With antioxidants like ascorbic acid and sequestrants can slow down this process together with suitable packaging. Dry packaging is more stable with the presence of oxygen. The color of betanin depends on pH. Usually it will be bright bluish-red between pH of 4 and 5. It will becoming blue-violet as the pH increases. Once the pH reaches alkaline level, it will degrades by hydrolysis, resulting in a yellowish-brown color.

Betanin can be used for coloring meat and sausages. Besides, betanin is commonly 

used in coloring ice cream and powdered soft drink beverages. It also used in some sugar confectionery which are fondants, sugar strands, sugar coatings and so on. In hot processed candies, it can be used if it is added at the final part of candy-processing. Betanin is used in soups as well as tomato and bacon products. Betanin has nearly no potential as allergen. It is very suitable as a food coloring.

This is the chemical structure of betanin. It’s functional group is mainly –OH group. It is an aromatic compound due to it conjugated planar ring systems.Its IUPAC name is (2S)-4-((2S)-2-carboxy-2,3-dihydro-5-(β-ᴅ-glucopyranosyloxy)-6-hydroxy-1H-indol-1-yl)ethenyl)-2,3-dihydro-2,6-pyridinedi-carboxylic acid or 4-(2-(2-carboxy-5-(beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy)-2,3-dihydro-6-hydroxy-1H-indol-1-yl)ethenyl)-2,3-dihydro-(S-(R*,R*))-2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid. 

According to the chemical structure of betanin, it is an organic compound that contains a glycoside of indolium-2-carboxylic acid attached, with the nitrogen ring of the indolium ring attached to an ethylpyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid derivative. Betanin pigment structurally belong to red-violet betacyanins which represent a class of N-heterocyclic water soluble plant pigments that provide the colors in a wide variety of fruits and flowers. 

Betanin also provide health benefits to human. According to a research, it said that betanin can reduce chronic myeloid leukemia cell by it contained an apoptotic characteristics. It is also can partially help in curing breast cancer. Betanin can also inhibits the production of lipid hydroperoxides in human LDL submitted to a MPO/nitrite-induced oxidation. Betanin always act as healthy food additive and an antioxidants.

CHLOROPHYLLIN

Chlorophyllin is one of any of a group of closely related water-soluble salts that are semi-synthetic derivatives of chlorophyll, differing in the identity of the cations associated with the anion. It most common form is a sodium/copper derivative. As a food coloring agent, copper complex chlorophyllin is known as natural green 3. Chlorophyllin displays some technological advantages over chlorophyll, such as greater hydrophilicity and tinctorial power and higher stability towards acid and light. With those advantages, it is suitable as food coloring. 

Chlorophyllin it source is chlorella algae. Chlorophyllin copper complex is an isolate derived from nature sources. Differ from native plant chlorophyll, chlorophyllin copper complex is a water soluble molecule. Its water solubility is believed to enhance the bioavailability of chlorophyll.

Copper chlorophyllin is formed by the saponification of chlorophyll molecules in an alkaline medium containing methanolic sodium hydroxide, leading to isocyclic ring opening and phytyl group removal. Saponification is the process of  triglycerides react with sodium or potassium hydroxide to produce glycerol and a fatty acid salt. The use of saponification process in producing copper chlorophyllin is to removes the methyl and cyclophytol ester groups and may partially cleave the pentenyl ring. Magnesium is then removed and replaced with a copper atom using copper sulfate in an acidic medium., which gives chlorophyllin the desired chemical stability. Besides copper, divalent cations such as iron and zinc can also be used. However, copper still remains the most commonly used cation.

This is the structure of a copper chlorophyllin. It consists of a copper ion in the middle of the structure. Once again, it is a water-soluble sodium copper salt, which means it is a stable compound. It IUPAC name is 5-(2-carboxyethyl)-7-(carboxymethyl)-19-ethenyl-14-ethyl-15-formyl-4,10,20-trimethyl-2$l^{4},22,23$l^{4},25-tetraaza-1-cupraoctacyclo[11.9.1.1^{1,8}.1^{3,21}.0^{2,6}.0^{16,23}.0^{18,22}.0^{11,25}]pentacosa-2,6,8,10,12,14,16(23),17,19,21(24)-decaene-9-carboxylic acid.

Chlorophyllin copper complex has it health benefits. It is an aid to reduce odor from colostomy or ileostomy. It also an aid to reduce fecal odor which due to incontinence and malodors in wounds and surface ulcers. Chlorophyllin has the potential as allergen to certain people.

LYCOPENE

Lycopene is a type of pigment which is carotenoid pigment and a bright red carotene found in tomatoes and other red fruits and as well as vegetables, such as red carrots and so on. But some red fruits and vegetables do not contain lycopene, such as strawberries, red bell peppers and so on. Some fruits and vegetables which is not red in color may also contain lycopene. Lycopene is a type of carotenoid but it does not use to produce vitamin A like any other type of carotenoids do. 

Lycopene is not an essential nutrient to human. However, I various studies, person with diet rich in lycopene is said to have lower risk of having cancer. Lycopene is also claim to be a prevention and treatment of cancer. However, this statement is yet to know, why a single part like lycopene can prevent or treat cancer.

Lycopene is an important intermediate in the biosynthesis of many carotenoids such as beta carotene, responsible for yellow, orange or red pigmentation, photosynthesis and photo-protection, in plants, algae and other photosynthetic organisms. Same as other carotenoids, lycopene is a polyunsaturated hydrocarbon which is an unsubstituted alkene. 

This is the chemical structure of lycopene. According to its structure, lycopene is a tetraterpene which is a terpenes consisting of eight isoprene units, same goes to structure of lycopene with eight isoprene units composed entirely of carbon and hydrogen. It is insoluble in water. The eleven conjugated double bonds of lycopene give it its deep red and are responsiblefor its antioxidant activity. It has characteristic of strong color and non-toxicity. Therefore, lycopene is suitable as food coloring. 

Artificial Food Coloring GOOD or POINTLESS ?

Artificial food coloring makes your food look more appealing and desirable. Is those artificial food dye safe as food coloring in food? The answer from the U.S. Food and drug Administration is those food coloring is currently permitted for use but with the must of meeting the strict safety requirements. According to some consumer advocacy groups and recent scientific research, those food dyes is linked to a number of potential health problems, mostly notable such as certain type of cancer in animals, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity in children.

ü  Safety Restrictions and Rare Allergic Reactions

According to FoodSafety.gov, the FDA uses the best science available to determine whether food additives are safe. When artificial food colors are approved for use, a number of restrictions are specified, including the types of foods they can be used in, the maximum amounts in which they can be used and how the dyes should be identified on food labels. In addition, all approved food colors are subject to ongoing review, as testing methods continue to improve. FoodSafety.gov does note that while it is rare, some individuals can have allergic reactions to particular food colors. As an example, the FDA found that approximately 1 in 10,000 people could experience hives and itching after consuming the artificial food coloring Yellow No. 5 mostly food coloring that used widely in beverages, desserts, candies and other products.

What You Can Do?

·         Check labels: to avoid products with ingredients lists that include sodium benzoate and artificial colors, colorants, dyes or any of the colorants listed in the sidebar

·         Buy whole, organic foods, which do not contain artificial dyes or sodium benzoate and feed your children lots of whole fruits and vegetables.

·         For cakes and other items, make sure that the food coloring used is natural food dyes such as beets (red), paprika (yellow), red cabbage (blue).