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Naturex offers 2 natural colouring solution ranges: VegeBrite, E-Color
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Saturday, 06 October, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Lionel Lesegretain
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fiogf49gjkf0d In recent years, consumers' awareness of health implications relating to food consumption has increased. Even though chemical additives are generally considered as cost-effective and convenient solutions for food processing, consumers unquestionably associate synthetic and chemical terms with potential hazards and health concerns, especially when used to qualify food constituents. Therefore the growing natural trend in the food industry has become global. Due to the consumer demand for more natural food, clean-labelling now drives a significant part of innovation within the food industry. This is especially true with colours. Consumers are still driving the demand for products, coloured naturally. Another big trend is the growing demand for ingredients with colouring properties instead of colouring additives, whether these additives are natural or not.
Formulating or reformulating food products with clean-label ingredients is a challenge, especially when it comes to technological ingredients. Natural ingredients may be seen as safe and healthy by consumers, but they are often considered to be lacking efficiency by the food processors – sometimes rightly so, sometimes wrongly so.
VegeBrite – Clean and vibrant
VegeBrite includes a wide choice of brilliant shades that are exclusively made from concentrates of fruit, vegetables, edible flowers and algae. Obtained without selective extraction or isolation these ingredients perform superbly in a wide range of applications. The group has strongly invested in an aseptic packaging line that allows Naturex to offer extended shelf-life and preservative-free colours.
The products from the VegeBrite range have their own characteristics and limits (such as stability, compatibility, dispersibility), and when it comes to overcome these specific technical issues related to the use of natural colours, Naturex is able to offer its innovative E-color range.
E-Color – Precise and intense
Extracted from natural raw materials, E-Color is a complete range of high-performing colour additives that achieve exact colour targets.
Natural pigments cover the entire palette of hues (yellow, orange, red, blue, green, etc.) Our dedicated R&D and application centres are strongly skilled in adapting each colour formulation for all types of applications (including bakery, beverage, confectionery, meat, processed food and dairy products) These laboratories are at the cutting edge of innovation to tackle the technical issues of different types of applications (including dispersibility, stability, emulsion and clearance).
Ready-to-drink market
Instant Powders is a unique line of colours answering the solubility needs of the instant drinks market. These dehydrated powders offer outstanding solubility properties, thanks to a specific emulsifying system for the yellow and orange pigments and carrier. They match perfectly the hue with the desirable flavour profile (for example, orange, mango, exotic fruit, pineapple or grapefruit).
An expertise in beverages: from yellow to orange hues
In the beverage industry, the stability of yellow to orange hues is one of the biggest challenges because these pigments require emulsions that interact a lot with several other ingredients. Moreover the acidity of the solution can weaken natural colours, especially yellow and orange hues composed of oil-soluble carotenoids like lutein, carotene or paprika.
Interaction of the pigment with other ingredients
Incorporating lipophilic colours into an aqueous solution requires some adjuvants like emulsifying systems. Each beverage needs a particular emulsifying system that is adapted to the constraints of the matrix. The quality of an emulsion in acidic conditions is achieved by taking into account several critical variables, including the choice of the emulsifier, the order, its incorporation into the matrix, the temperature of the matrix, the timing for blending the two phases and the pressure during the homogenisation step. Solutions exist to master these different parameters and to obtain fine and uniform emulsions, bringing high stability and excellent dispersibility to different types of beverages. Due to the technical issues of this particular area, means it is not just about matching the right emulsifier system with the matrix in question, but offering support and advice. A polysorbate 80-free emulsifying system has recently been launched in Asia, in response to market demand.
Polysorbate 80-free emulsifying system
Polysorbate 80 is an unavoidable ingredient in all acidic applications, particularly in beverages. It acts as an emulsifier and brings dispersibility, clearance and stability to the drink. However this additive faces regulatory restriction in many Asian countries. At the beginning of 2012, a polysorbate 80-free emulsifying system was launched, which still preserves all the transparency, vibrancy and stability characteristics in application. It is a useful ingredient to sort out polysorbate 80 off-notes, dispersibility and regulatory restrictions in many countries.
Stability in carotenoid-based drinks
The compatibility and the stability of carotenoid emulsions in drinks are another technical challenge where we are innovating and bringing tailor-made solutions to the market. There are possible interactions between emulsions and several critical variables including the flavour oil, the presence of alcohol, high temperature in high brix at low pH, some fruits such as apple and mango, stabilisers and clouding agents. To stabilise carotenoid-based colours we use natural antioxidants, principally from rosemary extract.
Natural red hues in the confectionery and beverage markets
Red hues
Red hues are extremely popular, due to their attractive colour and vibrancy, particularly in beverages and confectionery (jellies, hard-boiled candies, fondants & pastes, panned products, etc.) targeted at children. Azo colorants could easily be replaced by carmine. But there is a growing demand for carmine substitutes. Anthocyanins offer an array of alternative colour solutions.
All fruit and vegetable concentrates providing red shades contain anthocyanins that are very sensitive to pH. If pH is increasing, they become less and less stable in the finished product and hues will vary from red in acidic conditions through to blue-grey in basic medium. This makes them a perfect ingredient to be included in acidic applications like beverages or confectioneries. To overcome stability issues due to pH, these additives require some expertise, know-how and tailored solutions.
New source of anthocyanins
The group is continually researching new pigment sources – several fruits and flowers are being studied for their hue properties and their response to pH. For example, black carrot, purple sweet potato and radish are good sources of anthocyanins in acidic pH. Adding pigments from radish can have a negative impact on flavour perception. That said it is possible to find de-aromatised pigments that keep the colouring properties of the molecule without modifying the taste.
Co-pigmentation
Secondly, the colour of anthocyanins can be stabilised by several mechanisms of co-pigmentation. This phenomenon can be seen between anthocyanins (intra-molecular stabilisation) or between anthocyanins and other sources of molecules (co-pigments usually colourless). In this case, it is called intermolecular stabilisation. The bind of anthocyanins with flavonoids (natural co-pigment molecule
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