FOOD PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: Effectively Incorporating Color Rachel Adams

FORMULATING FOODS

Formulating Foods explores the latest health and nutrition news and research—as well as the latest ingredient and food application innovations—to determine what consumers want (and need) from the food and beverage products they consume, and how industry can make it happen. 

Effectively Incorporating Color

Rachel Adams

September 17, 2014 - Blog

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How a food looks can be a major deciding factor as to whether a consumer will try the product. In order to increase visual appeal, food and beverage designers turn to a toolbox of colors options—synthetic or natural—to keep foods looking fresh and appetizing.

In today’s clean-label word, consumers are increasingly seeking products free from artificial colors and dyes, causing a shift away from FD&C-certified colors toward more “natural" alternatives. In terms of revenues, the global market for natural colors was estimated to be worth approximately $732.1 million in 2011 and is expected to reach $1.3 billion by 2017, according to the MarketsandMarkets report, “Food Colors Market by Type, Application & Geography—Global Trends & Forecast to 2019."

Food is the largest application segment for natural colorants with more than 32 percent market share, followed by soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. The market for natural colors is likely to become competitive as manufacturers have begun using natural colors in many products.

Of course, the “natural" landscape can be challenging to navigate, as FDA does not define colors as natural or artificial. In fact, FDA considers any product with added color—with the exception of those that receive the color from the food itself—to be artificially colored.

From a consumer perspective, the color’s natural-versus-artificial status is often determined the ingredient’s labeling. Colors derived from carotenoids or anthocyanins, for example, often carry names representing their fruit, vegetable or spice origins. Other colors considered “natural" include Spirulina extract, caramel colors, carmine and cochineal extract.

Natural colorants, like synthetics, can present challenges during formulation. Careful consideration of the application, processing parameters, intended shelf life, and other considerations, can ensure the colors will perform as intended.
For example, in bakery applications, high temperature or extreme pH can have negative effects on color ingredients—whether natural or synthetic. Understanding where the color will be added during processing along with what other conditions the color will be exposed to is critical when adding colors to baked goods.

Coloring beverages, on the other hand, will present a different set of challenges. Ingredients interaction, shelf life, packaging and storage conditions must all be considered when selecting colors for beverages.

For a closer look at colors—including how to effectively formulate with both naturals and synthetics in bakery, dairy, beverages and fortified foods—download the free Digital Issue, “Colors Formulation Strategies," from Food Product Design.

NATURAL FOODS: Egging on Clean-Label Formulation

Egging on Clean-Label Formulation

Lynn Kuntz

August 28, 2014 - Blog

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Clean label is one of those nebulous terms used in the food and beverage industry that lacks a strict definition. It’s a bit like that oft-used definition of porn: A consumer knows it when they see it. But the concept of clean labelgenerally encompasses factors like:  “natural" (this word also open to interpretation); short, simple ingredient lists; no artificial additives or preservatives; and real ingredients your average cook could find in his or her kitchen cupboard. Some consumers may be searching for free-from labels, and others may want their green issues addressed in clean-label products. Whatever the interpretation, the general concept is becoming a huge force in the market.

According to a 2013 Datamonitor survey, when asked ““How appealing do you find the following food and drink product concept? A product that is formulated with the lowest number of ingredients possible." Almost ¾ (72 percent) of U.S. respondents said they would find it "somewhat" or "very" appealing.
So, for many formulations, that means a back-to-basics approach. One ingredient that fits well with this strategy is the familiar egg, which comes in a variety of ingredient forms to facilitate its use in manufacturing and can provide a range of functionalities, from emulsification to color. Elisa Maloberti, director of egg product marketing, American Egg Board, Park Ridge, Illinois, shares with Food Product Design readers why the functional and nutritional properties of real eggs are grounded in real science, and how eggs can improve quality and consumer acceptance in this growing clean-label environment.

Simple Solutions with Real Eggs
In an era of technological advancements, the simple solution sometimes is overlooked—but perhaps that simple solution is the best. In the hands of a formulator, the familiar and simple turns to stupendous, with egg ingredients supplying 20-plus functional benefits from aeration to whipping in multiple applications.  In addition, eggs are a good source of bioavailable protein plus a host of other vitamins and minerals.

Some simple facts might show there is more to egg ingredients than meets the eye.

Simple Solutions: Real Eggs are GMO-Free
Eggs in their natural state—in their shells—are not a genetically modified (GM), or bioengineered, food. In fact, neither chickens nor eggs are genetically modified. Misconceptions might arise because corn and soybeans grown in the United States might be genetically modified, and these form the primary constituents of most animals’ feeds. However, none of the genetic materials pass through the hen to the egg; they are completely digested. Regardless of the type of feed the hen consumes, her digestive process breaks down the proteins and nucleic acids present. ¹

Simple Solutions: Egg Ingredients Create Clean Labels
As stated before, egg ingredients supply more than 20 functional benefits to food formulations yet are listed simply as “eggs" on the product label. While a recent flurry of lawsuits might have food formulators searching for synonyms for the word “natural," the concept of transparency and simplicity is going strong. Consumers prefer product labels with ingredient names they recognize and can easily pronounce. If a formulator is considering alternatives to eggs, for example, any method will more than likely involve multiple ingredients in order to mimic the properties available from the egg. Egg ingredients help products remain clean and simple on the label while maintaining the proper texture, appearance, taste, color and desired shelf life.

Simple Solutions: Egg Ingredients Help Create Gluten-Free Foods
Proper formulating within the baking segment is critical to gluten-free product success. The gluten matrix provides dough with extensibility, resistance to stretch, mixing tolerance and gas-holding ability. The protein in wheat also needs to be replaced when absent from bread, for proper formation and structure. Egg ingredients perform superbly in gluten-free formulations, contributing protein, binding, aeration, humectancy, moisture and color.

Simply Sustainable
The results of a 50-year impact study found that egg farmers are reducing their environmental impact while continuing to supply the needs of a U.S. population that has increased 72 percent over this same time period. Today’s hens are producing more eggs and living longer due to better health, nutrition and living environments. At the same time by instituting scientific advances for feed and improving efficiencies, egg farms are producing less waste, using less water and have cut greenhouse gas emissions by 71 percent.

Elisa Maloberti is the Director of Egg Product Marketing for the American Egg Board (AEB). American Egg Board (AEB) is the U.S. egg producers’ communications link to educate food manufacturers and developers of new food products about the functionality and nutritional benefits of eggs. Visit aeb.org.

To find out more about the simple solutions egg ingredients can supply to formulators, interested parties can sign up for the National Egg Products School hosted at Auburn University, September 15-17, 2014. This biannual seminar brings together the brightest minds involved in egg production and functional ingredient applications for a combination of educational lectures and practical hands-on laboratory sessions in Auburn, Alabama. Participants can earn continuing education credits for Research Chefs Association or the Institute of Food Technologists. Seeaufsi.auburn.edu/neps/.