Food coloring, or 

color additive, is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is

added to food or drink. They come in many forms consisting of liquids, powers, gels, and pastes.
Food coloring is used in both commercial food production and domestic cooking. Food colorants are
also used in a variety of non-food applications, including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, home craft
projects, and medical devices.

Purpose for Food Coloring

People associate certain colours with certain flavor and the colour of food can influence the
perceived flavour in anything from candy to wine. Sometimes the aim is to simulate a colour that is
perceived by the consumer as natural, such as adding red colouring to glace cherries (which would
otherwise be beige), but sometimes it is for effect, like the green ketchup that Heinz launched in
1999.
Colour additives are used in foods for many reasons including:

 To make food more attractive, appealing, appetizing, and informative

 Offset color loss due to exposure to light, air, temperature extremes, moisture and
storage conditions
 Correct natural variations in color
 Enhance colors that occur naturally
 Provide color to colorless and "fun" foods
 Allow consumers to identify products on sight, like candy flavors or medicine dosages

Natural colorants

Most natural colorants are extracts derived from plant tissues. The use of
these extracts in the food industry has certain problems associated with it,
including the lack of consistent colour intensities, instability upon exposure
to light and heat, variability of supply, reactivity with other food components,
and addition of secondary flavours and odours.

Natural food colorants

chemical
colour plant source pigment products
class

anthocyanins red strawberry (Fragaria pelargonidin 3- beverages, confections,

Natural food colorants

chemical
colour plant source pigment products
class

species) glucoside* preserves, fruit products

malvidin 3-
blue grape (Vitis species) beverages
glucoside*

dairy products, desserts,

betacyanins red beetroot (Beta vulgaris) betanin
icings

carotenoids** yellow/orange annatto (Bixa orellana) bixin dairy products, margarine

rice dishes, bakery

yellow saffron (Crocus sativus) crocin
products

paprika (Capsicum
red/orange capsanthin soups, sauces
annuum)

bakery products,
orange carrot (Daucus carota) beta-carotene
confections

mushroom
red (Cantharellus canthaxanthin sauces, soups, dressings
cinnabarinus)

turmeric (Cuycuma
phenolics orange/yellow curcumin dairy products, confections
longa)

Synthetic colorants
Synthetic colorants are water-soluble and are available commercially as
powders, pastes, granules, or solutions. Special preparations called lakes are
formulated by treating the colorants with aluminum hydroxide. They contain
approximately 10 to 40 percent of the synthetic dye and are insoluble in water
and organic solvents. Lakes are ideal for use in dry and oil-based products.

The stability of synthetic colorants is affected by light, heat, pH, and reducing
agents. A number of dyes have been chemically synthesized and approved for
usage in various countries.

These colorants are designated according to special numbering systems

specific to individual countries. For example, the United States uses FD&C
numbers (chemicals approved for use in foods, drugs, and cosmetics), and
the European Union (EU) uses E numbers.
All synthetic colorants have undergone extensive toxicological analysis.
Synthetic colorants are not universally approved in all countries.

Toxicological testing and health concerns

Food additives and their metabolites are subjected to
rigorous toxicological analysis prior to their approval for use in the industry.
Feeding studies are carried out using animal species (e.g., rats, mice, dogs) in
order to determine the possible acute, short-term, and long-term toxic effects
of these chemicals. These studies monitor the effects of the compounds on the
behaviour, growth, mortality, blood chemistry, organs, reproduction,
offspring, and tumour development in the test animals over a 90-day to two-
year period. The lowest level of additive producing no toxicological effects is
called the no-effect level (NOEL). The NOEL is generally divided by 100 to
determine a maximum acceptable daily intake (ADI).

Toxicological analysis of the nonnutritive sweeteners has produced variable

results. High concentrations of saccharin and cyclamates in the diets of rats
have been shown to induce the development of bladder tumours in the
animals. Because of these results, the use of cyclamates has been banned in
several countries, including the United States, and the use of saccharin must
include a qualifying statement regarding its potential health risks. However,
no evidence of human bladder cancer has been reported with
the consumption of these sweeteners. Both aspartame and acesulfame K have
been deemed to be relatively safe, with no evidence of carcinogenic potential
in animal studies.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/food-additive/Natural-colorants

Addition of vitamins and minerals

A wide range of nutrients and other ingredients are used in food manufacturing, including (but
not limited to):

 Vitamins
 Minerals including trace elements
 Amino acids
 Essential fatty acids
 Fiber
 Various plants and herbal extracts
The nutrients or ingredients are added to food in order to "enrich" or "fortify" the food to add or
emphasise particular nutritional characteristics.

Food Fortification
Food fortification or enrichment is the process of adding micronutrients (essential trace elements
and vitamins) to food. It can be carried out by food manufacturers, or by governments as a public
health policy which aims to reduce the number of people with dietary deficiencies within a
population. The predominant diet within a region can lack particular nutrients due to the local soil or
from inherent deficiencies within the staple foods; the addition of micronutrients to staples and
condiments can prevent large-scale deficiency diseases in these cases.[1]
As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), fortification refers to "the practice of deliberately increasing the content
of an essential micronutrient, ie. vitamins and minerals (including trace elements) in a food, so as to
improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and to provide a public health benefit with minimal
risk to health", whereas enrichment is defined as "synonymous with fortification and refers to the
addition of micronutrients to a food which are lost during processing". [2]
Food fortification has been identified as the second strategy of four by the WHO and FAO to begin
decreasing the incidence of nutrient deficiencies at the global level. [2] As outlined by the FAO, the
most commonly fortified foods are cereals and cereal-based products; milk and dairy
products; fats and oils; accessory food items; tea and other beverages; and infant formulas.
[3]
 Undernutrition and nutrient deficiency is estimated globally to cause the deaths of between 3 and 5
million people per year
Types of Fortificants

Fortification is present in common food items in two different ways: adding back and addition. Flour
loses nutritional value due to the way grains are processed; Enriched Flour has iron, folic acid,
niacin, riboflavin, and thiamin added back to it. Conversely, other fortified foods have micronutrients
added to them that don’t naturally occur in those substances. An example of this is orange juice,
which often is sold with added calcium.[4]
Food fortification can also be categorised according to the stage of addition:

1. Commercial and industrial fortification (wheat flour, corn meal, cooking oils)
2. Biofortification (breeding crops to increase their nutritional value, which can include
both conventional selective breeding, and genetic engineering)
3. Home fortification (example: vitamin D drops)

Types of Food Contaminants

Food contaminants typically include environmental contaminants, food
processing contaminants, unapproved adulterants and food additives, and
migrants from packaging materials (Mastovska, 2013). Environmental
contaminants are impurities that are either introduced by human or occurring
naturally in water, air or soil. Food processing contaminants include those
undesirable compounds, which are formed in the food during baking,
roasting, canning, heating, fermentation, or hydrolysis (Schrenk, 2004). The
direct food contact with packaging materials can lead to chemical
contamination due to the migration of some harmful substances into foods.
Further, use of unapproved or erroneous additives may result in food
contamination.

Naturally Occurring Contaminants in Food

Several bacteria, viruses, and parasites inhabit the surfaces of the raw food
naturally. Contamination of raw food can also occur due to the sewage, soil,
external surfaces, live animals, the internal organs of meat animals. An
additional source of contaminated food is the food that originated from
diseased animals although the health advancement has nearly eliminated this
source of food contamination (Marriott and Gravani, 2006). Food
contamination from the chemical sources includes the accidental mixing of
chemical supplies in food or the chemicals in the animal feed or antibiotic
injections given to poultry animals (Martin and Beutin, 2011). Several
parasites are also present in the food by symbiotic relations between the
organism and the parasite. Numerous of these cause foodborne infections and
outbreaks. A broad categorizing of these parasites is presented in
Table 1A (Newell et al., 2010).

Enteric infections due to parasite can be transmitted via the fecal-oral route by
consuming intrinsically the contaminated food or through the uptake of free-
living parasites from the environments. Contamination of the food products
such as meat, vegetables, and fruits is possible via the introduction of the
parasite in the sewage, irrigation water, feces, soil, human handling or
improper process of the infected meat. Food producing animals can itself
transfer the parasites, as they are themselves infected (Pozio, 1998).
Contamination during the Food Production,
Processing, Storage, and Preparation Phases
Contaminants may be present in the food in their raw stages as a result of
environmental sources of contaminants. During the transportation of food,
common sources of contamination include the vehicle exhausts of diesel and
petrol or cross-contamination in the vehicle being used for food
transportation. Long-distance ships for transport are also often cross
contaminated with chemicals used for disinfection or other sources (Nerín et
al., 2007a). High barriers used for protection of food by wrapping it during
long-distance transport are not always tested for their barrier properties,
which makes it a cause of contamination. In the cleaning phase of food
production and preparation, contaminants can invade due to the residues left
from the disinfectants and cleaning agents on the surface of food handling
equipment (Nageli and Kupper, 2006; Villanueva et al., 2017). Heating
treatment in the production process is another source of contaminants. The
use of high cooking temperature at homes and industries is the widely used
method for food process. The use of high temperature for cooking paired with
external factors potentially leads to the formation of toxic compounds that
leave an impact on the food safety and quality. Toxic compounds such as
nitrosamines chloropropanols, acrylamide, furanes, or PAHs are formed
during the food processing methods like heating, roasting, grilling, baking,
canning, fermentation, or hydrolysis (Nerín et al., 2016). Frying is a leading
source of generation of a range of toxic compounds in the food preparation
processes (Roccato et al., 2015). Additionally, microwave heating can also give
birth contaminants in food, as the common feature of microwave cooking is
that the food is cooked in the container or wrapping film (packaging material)
in the microwave oven (Nerín et al., 2003). The microwavable packaging
materials include paperboard, composites, and plastics and during the
cooking components of these materials can transfer from the package to the
food, resulting in a decline in food safety and quality (Ehlert et al., 2008).
Food packing carries several advantages like physical protection and enhanced
food protection; however, it still can pose a threat (Marsh and Bugusu, 2007).
Packaging processes make use of several additives like stabilizers,
antioxidants, plasticizers, and slipping agents to improve the packaging
material properties. Nevertheless, any direct or indirect contact with the food
with the packaging material can result in the transference of these substances
from the packaging into the food. Such a phenomenon is termed as migration.
When metallic cans are used in packaging, corrosion stands as a source of food
contamination due to the migration of metallic ions to food (Buculei et al.,
2012). To avoid this, the inner side of cans are commonly coated with
varnishes like epoxy resins to save from corrosion, but even the minor by-
products from the epoxy resins manufacture like cyclo-di- BADGE, bisphenol
A, or bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) can migrate to food. Such
compounds are known as endocrine disruptors (Cabado et al., 2008). There is
also the risk of non-intentionally added substances migrating from the
packaging material to the food producing adverse effects (Nerin et al., 2013).
Food storage is another step that can lead to toxins in food. Some of the
contaminating factors include direct sunlight that speeds deterioration of food
and packaging and adsorption of unwanted off-odors. Foods with longer shelf
life contain flavors and color that compromise with the nutritive value of food.
Also, high fatty foods are prone to odor contamination (Nerín et al., 2007a).
Food contamination due to the entire food processing to packaging stages is
summed in Figure 1.

The Sources of Chemical

Contaminants in Food and Their
Health Implications
Irfan A. Rather , Wee Yin Koh , Woon K. Paek  and Jeongheui Lim
1* 2 3* 3*
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2017.00830/full