To
bake a colour
KP
Mohandas enumerates on the variety of food colours
available, their significance and the usage constraints in
the bakery industry
The
visual impact that a food item has on the customer has an instantaneous
effect on the demand for the product.
The colour of the food item signifies whether it is fresh or stale,
with good or poor flavour, and whether it contains certain ingredients.
For example, green colour stands for mint, dark green signifies lime,
orange flavour is associated with a bright reddish orange colour and
strawberry with a bright pink shade. Colours and flavours are closely
associated and like flavouring, colours play an important role in making
foods attractive, appealing and appetising. Besides its organoleptic
qualities, food colours are essential to:
• Fortify the natural colour lost
due to processing
• Overcome natural colour variation
and ensure a consistent product
• Enhance natural colour
• Provide a coloured identity to foods
that would otherwise be virtually colourless• Provide a coloured
appearance to certain food items. Many candies and holiday treats are
coloured to create a festive appearance• Provide an appealing variety
of wholesome and nutritious foods that meet the demands of the consumer.
Historians believe that food colour came into existence around 1500
BC. It originally came from natural ingredients such as turmeric, paprika
and saffron. Sometimes, colour was added to food to deceive the consumer
about the quality or identity of the food.
Natural and synthetic food colours
There are two classes of colour additives, natural colours and
synthetic colours, that are permitted in foods.
Natural colours
Colours extracted from naturally occurring materials were originally
used to improve the appearance of food. Flowers, fruits, vegetables,
seeds and some organisms, like kokam, beetroot, safflower, purple grapes,
are the sources of natural colouring. The approved natural colouring
materials in our country as per the Prevention of Food Adulteration
(PFA)
acts and rules are:
Beta
- carotene ---------------------------------Riboflavin
Beta-Apo-8’ carotenal -------------------------Caramel
Methylester of Beta-apo-8’ Carotonic acid -----Annatto
Ethyl ester of Beta-apo-8’ Carotenic acid ------Curcumin, turmeric
Canthazanthin -----------------------------------Cochineal
Chlorophyll --------------------------------------Saffron
These natural
colours are not very popular as they have significant disadvantages
like poor stability to light, sensitivity to oxidation and some of these
cannot withstand high
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