KANSAS CITY — Legislation in California, and potentially other states, is giving food companies motivation to stop putting certain synthetic dyes into product formulations. Surveys showing consumer concerns offer another reason to avoid the colors.

Naturally sourced options may replace synthetic dyes for colors such as red and yellow, but more difficulty in baked foods arises for blue and green.

The International Food Information Council, Washington, published the results of a survey in September in which 1,000 adults aged 18 and older completed an online survey from June 6-10. Thirty-five percent said they avoid foods and beverages containing dyes/colors, which was the top answer, beating out second-place sugar substitutes at 34%. Among those who avoid dyes/colors, the top two reasons were believing they were unhealthy to consume at 28% and believing they are unsafe to consume at 25%.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom on Oct. 7, 2023, signed a bill into law banning the use of Red 3, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate and propylparaben in foods and beverages in the state, effective Jan. 1, 2027. In late September of this year, he signed the School Food Safety Act, which bans the inclusion of six synthetic dyes in foods and beverages served in public schools, effective Dec. 31, 2027. The dyes are Blue 1 and 2, Green 3, Red 40 and Yellow 5 and 6.

“Many of these colors are found in grain-based foods,” said Katie Rountree, regional product manager, Americas, Givaudan Sense Colour. “For example, Yellow 5 and 6 are commonly used in applications like yellow cake mixes, crackers and buttery brioche breads. Red 3 and Red 40 are often used in sweet bakery applications with strawberry or red velvet flavors, or to add a spicy look to snacks, and Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3 are used to add visual interest through sweet icings and decorations in sweet bakery and through topical color flecks in savory applications.”

The six synthetic dyes are found in children’s breakfast cereals as well as sliced bread, tortillas, bagels, pastries, cookies and cake mixes, said Alice Lee, technical marketing manager for GNT USA, LLC, Dallas, NC. GNT offers Exberry colors sourced from fruits, vegetables and plants. Various naturally sourced colors may be used to replace Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 in grain-based foods, she said.

“For yellows and oranges, options include pumpkin, pepper and carrot concentrates, which can be declared either as ‘fruit and vegetable juice for color’ or by naming the raw materials,” Lee said. “Additional plant-based solutions include turmeric, paprika and annatto as well as natural beta-carotenes from sources such as algae. With the right color selection and formulation approach, these products can be used to achieve similar performance to the artificial colors and will generally offer cost-effective replacements across many different applications.”

Red, pink and purple

Colors from sources such as radishes, red potatoes and black carrot concentrates may replace Red 40 to create red, pink and purple colors.

“They all contain anthocyanin pigments, which means the main consideration is the pH of the base product,” Lee said. “In acidic applications like a bright red fruit prep filling in cookies and pastries, they can match or get very close to the artificial colors. To achieve a close color match with Red 40 in higher pH applications, blending the reds with natural yellow and orange colors is a common and effective strategy. Another option for pinks is beetroot. The concentrates contain betanin pigments, which are sensitive to heat but are pH-independent, so they can work well in applications that don’t require extensive heating.”

Naturally sourced colors need to be heat-stable in baked foods, said James Hermann, marketing director at Sensient Food Colors, St. Louis. Heat-stable beets and carmine may be used for red and pink, and annatto, turmeric and beta-carotene are good options for orange and yellow.

“Cooler shades like blues, purples and greens can be tricky because of their relative scarcity in nature, but novel color sources like butterfly pea flower extract open the door to a wider range of natural solutions,” he said.

Givaudan typically recommends substituting turmeric for Yellow 5, Rountree said.

“It provides a similar vibrant, almost neon shade with a recognizable label,” she said. “It has great heat stability but is sensitive to light, so we recommend opaque packaging when using this color. Annatto and our emSeal Beta-carotene provide shades that can be used to replace the sunny yellow-orange hues of Yellow 6. Again, these colors have consumer-friendly labels and are heat and light stable, and you can get a wider range of shades by blending with other yellows like turmeric in applications where Yellow 5 and 6 might otherwise be used together.”

Red 40 often is used for red velvet flavors, Rountree said.

“Our recently launched Endure Red Beet provides a great alternative with a recognizable label,” she said. “It is suitable for baked goods like cookies and cakes, especially those with vegan and kosher claims. It is also used in bakery fillings and fruit preps, and snack seasonings and can be replaced with anthocyanin-based colors like our new Amaize orange-red, which we developed as a close shade match to Red 40 in low pH applications.”

Red 3 requires a natural alternative with more pink tones than Red 40.

“This can be achieved with beet in applications like frosting and bakery decorations, or where vegan/kosher claims aren’t required, manufacturers can get these shades in baked goods with carmine,” Rountree said. “This color is a great option because it’s extremely stable to both heat and light. In frosting and decoration applications, pastel to vibrant blues can be achieved with spirulina to replace Blue 1.”

While spirulina may be used for color in frostings and decoration applications after a food is baked, the US Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve spirulina for use in baked foods, Lee said.

“Spirulina is also combined with natural yellows to achieve green shades, so products like green tortillas and breakfast cereals are a gap for natural colors,” she added.'

Dealing with California

California’s laws regarding food colors could impact the entire country.

“California is such a large market that whatever you do for California, the economics of it means you have to do it everywhere,” said Claudia Lewis, co-chair of the FDA group for Venable LLP, Washington.

Companies might decide to discontinue products nationwide that contain dyes banned in California, said David R. Shoneker, president and owner of Black Diamond Regulatory Consulting, LLC, in an Oct. 14 webinar by the Institute of Food Technologists.

“Economics will always determine the outcome when there is actually no safety concern,” Shoneker said. “If there was a safety concern, we’d all be together with the industry and consumers alike saying, ‘We’ve got to get this stuff out of here.’ When there’s not actually a credible safety concern, then you can look at it differently. The economics will drive what actually gets done, regardless of what the politicians or even the consumers want.”

He added, “If there are states that approve unjustified laws, such as what we’re seeing in California and some other states, we’ll probably see many of the existing food products that children love taken off the market and not always replaced.”

Bills in other states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York, seek to ban certain food colors.

“These types of things reverberate once they decide that a certain number of ingredients aren’t safe,” Lewis said. “If it catches on in New York, it catches on in Illinois, it happens in Florida.”

She said that if the FDA has not approved a color additive for use in food, then companies should not use it in food.

“The non-governmental organizations, they’ve gotten frustrated because the FDA was unwilling to ban food ingredients that they wanted to have banned,” said Martin J. Hahn, a partner at Hogan Lovells LLP, in the IFT webinar. “What they have found is, if they can’t get FDA to accomplish their agenda, then they sometimes can have more success with the states. So we see the states becoming much more proactive.”

Companies will need to keep track of the legislative landscape.

“Every food manufacturer needs a member of his team who is carefully monitoring food ingredient safety on both the state and federal level,” Lewis said.

Keep labels clean, emulsify with lecithin, enzymes, plant proteins

Emulsifiers provide a variety of benefits in baked foods. Whether such foods are considered clean label depends on the choice of emulsifiers.

“Emulsifiers perform multiple functions in bakery products,” said Melanie Weber, senior research and development technologist for Cain Food Industries, Inc., Dallas. “They stabilize emulsions of fats and water in baked goods like cakes and muffins. In yeast-leavened baked goods, emulsifiers aid in cross-linking of the gluten network, leading to improved gas retention for better loaf volume and better crumb structure. Because of the increase in cross-linking of gluten-forming proteins, emulsifiers also help with crumb softening and reduction of staling.”

Enzymes, plant proteins, lecithin and eggs are emulsifying systems that may be considered more natural, she said. Enzymes perform their emulsifying activity before baking and are denatured during the baking process, which means they do not need to appear on ingredient lists. Plant proteins provide an added benefit of increasing the protein content of the final product.

“When clean label emulsifiers are formulated in combination with each other or other ingredients, they can effectively replace chemical emulsifiers in baked goods,” Weber said.

What constitutes a clean label varies among manufacturers and retailers, said Mark Zielonka, national R&D product specialist for BreadPartners, Inc., Cinnaminson, NJ. Some have restrictive lists, with the “no-no” list from Whole Foods Market being an example.

Lecithin, sourced from soy or sunflower, generally is accepted as a clean label emulsifying agent, he said. Lecithin also naturally occurs in whole eggs and egg yolks.

Distilled monoglycerides and mono- and diglycerides are more of a question mark.

“Although acceptance varies, some manufacturers and retailers may classify these as cleaner label, depending on their derivation and processing methods,” Zielonka said. “They are used for their effectiveness in improving the texture and stability of baked goods.

“On the other hand, traditional emulsifiers like DATEM, SSL (sodium stearoyl lactylate), CSL (calcium stearoyl lactylate), and polysorbates are typically categorized as conventional due to their synthetic origins and are not generally recognized as clean label ingredients.”

Lecithin is significantly weaker and necessitates higher usage rates to achieve effects similar to those provided by more robust emulsifiers like DATEM, SSL and CSL, Zielonka said.

“Due to their mild emulsifying capacity, lecithins often require the support of additional functional ingredients to enhance their performance effectively,” he said.

Functional ingredients are essential in the baking industry when working with clean label emulsifiers, Zielonka said.

“These include clean label oxidizing agents like ascorbic acid, which helps strengthen the dough; natural yeast nutrients like calcium sulfate, which optimize yeast activity; and protein strengtheners like vital wheat gluten, which enhance dough elasticity and structure,” he said. “Enzymes, in particular, play a pivotal role by improving dough strength, stability and overall baking performance, effectively bridging the gap between the performance of clean label and conventional emulsifiers.

Enzymes, particularly lipases, work as alternatives to chemical emulsifiers, and eggs, certain hydrocolloids, dairy products and plant-based lecithin also have emulsifying properties, said Ashley Beech, bakery applications development manager for Corbion, Lenexa, Kan.

“Chemical emulsifiers are highly functional and can be difficult to replace,” she said. “DATEM, for example, gives excellent dough stability for products like Kaiser rolls that need extra dough stability. Additionally, DATEM gives excellent tolerance to split-top products. Clean label emulsifiers and enzyme blends can give similar functionality, but they may require formula and process adjustments.

“However, clean label emulsifiers and enzyme blends may offer added benefits, such as improved texture and resilience as compared to mono- and diglycerides.”

Corbion offers a Pristine line of enzyme dough conditioners designed to give dough stability, process tolerance and finished product volumes. Ultra Fresh products extend the shelf life of baked foods and can give the similar texture in finished products as chemical emulsifiers.

“Lastly, Corbion has been able to use some of the new enzyme technologies to create Vantage 2060, which is our clean label mono replacer that functions to improve internal crumb structure of bread and aid in sliceability,” Beech said.