Food coloring agents: good color may not be unsafe

Attractive color food always makes people appetite, but if you hear which food "look" and food coloring agent (food coloring) (hereinafter referred to as "coloring agent") "painting makeup "related, many people are afraid to avoid it. Whether it's the richly colored Jiangzhe cuisine of the Ming Dynasty, or the long history of the traditional Beijing snack with red currant and starch, coloring agents have been the "finishingbinmei touch" to a cuisine for a long time. So, what are the concerns about colorants? What do experts in the field of food science think about such issues?

Why food has to be "pretty"

Sometimes, people's favorable opinion of food starts with its beauty. The "face" and "color" not only reflect the taste and freshness of the food, but also affect the mindset of those who eat it - these bright and eye-catching colors are more likely to be favored. However, the "beauty" that nature gives to ingredients is often fragile and less sustainable. Whether cooking, processing or storage, the hue may change at any time.

Wang Bei, vice dean of the School of Food and Health at Beijing University of Business and Economics, said that during the processing and maturation of food, the endogenous natural pigments may change due to temperature changes, moisture loss or mechanical damage, which may cause discoloration, fading or even darkening of food.

Changes in color tone, such as "browning" (darkening or turning brown) that occurs in the processing of fruits and vegetables, do look less pleasing to the eye. Therefore, food companies have to consider at the appropriate time, according to the addition of food coloring - coloring agents to change the natural color of food deterioration caused by processing, "repair" and improve the sensory characteristics of food, so that customers deal with food after the psychological pleasure and The customer's desire to buy.

This type of colorants to give and improve the color of food, is the relevant national standards allow the use of food additives in an important category, according to their origin and characteristics can be divided into natural colorants and colorants generated two categories.

Natural colorants mainly from natural pigments, according to the source is divided into three categories, one is plant pigments, such as beet red, turmeric, β-carotene, etc.; second is animal pigments, such as purple gum red, carmine red, etc.; third is the microbial class, such as red currant red, etc..

Generate colorants according to their chemical spirulina concentratestructure can be divided into two kinds, one is azo pigment class, such as amaranth red, carmine, sunset yellow, lemon yellow, etc.; two non-azo pigment class, such as erythrosine, bright blue, etc.. The so-called azo and non-azo, mainly refers to the number of nitrogen atoms contained in the molecular formula of pigments is not an even number. Generally speaking, the non-azo pigments are relatively more solid, the processing is relatively complex, and the cost of the product is also high.

The effectiveness of colorants is not limited to food "beauty", some colorants also have their own physiological activities and nutrients. Forspirulina powder blue example, beta-carotene, widely used in fruit drinks, is not only vitamin A (in the body can be converted into vitamin A substances), but also has significant antioxidant services.

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