Natural food colours are the ingredients prepared from plant sources and do not contain any artificial pigments. They are used to impart colour and enhance the texture of the food by balancing the colour loss due to environmental factors. It is also used to decorate the food such as salads, candies, desserts and cake. Carotenoids, curcumin, anthocyanin, and carmine are some of the types of natural food colours. Moreover, they provide stability and are easy to use.

Global natural food colours market is estimated to account for around US$1,591.0 million in terms of value in the year 2019 and it is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 6.8 per cent during the forecast period (2020-2027), states Coherent Market Insights.

Increasing government support for promoting the use of natural and organic food ingredients is estimated to have a positive impact on the market of natural food colours. For instance, regulatory bodies such as FDA in North America and EFSA in Europe are implementing strict rules and regulation regarding the use of ingredients in food products and their proper labelling to promote organic/natural foods. This is expected to foster the market growth of natural food colour.

Increasing adoption of advanced technologies such as microencapsulation in order to produce light-stable curcumin food colours is projected to open up avenues to the market. For example, soft drinks, sugar confectionery, and dressings are suitable for food products where microencapsulation can be used. Hence, emerging advanced technologies for preserving the functionality of food colours will favour the market growth over the forecast period.

Environmental factors such as light, temperature, and adverse pH degrades colours and other functional properties of the natural food colours. For example, beetroot has low heat stability, anthocyanin degrades as a brown precipitate in food and curcumin is highly prone to photo bleaching. This is expected to restrict the adoption of natural food colours.

On the basis of the product type, the Carotenoid segment dominated the global natural food colours market in 2019 with a 31.5 per cent of market share in terms of value, followed by anthocyanin and others.

On the basis of the application, the others (pet food etc.) segment dominated the global footwear sole material market in 2019 with a 27.7 per cent of market share in terms of value, followed by beverages and packaged food.

As per findings, rising demand for purple sweet potato and black carrot for the primary source of anthocyanin-based pink/violet shades in food and beverage is expected to be a major trend in the market. Moreover, increasing the focus of the manufacturer to increase the availability of raw materials for natural food colours such as manufacturers are adopting red cabbage and purple corn for natural food colour.

EU Laws: Effective from August 2014, the EU banned the use of food additives containing aluminium, including carmine, in ice cream and other related product varieties.