Chemistry Involved in Food Colors

Hideharu Shintani^*
*Correspondence: Hideharu Shintani, Editor-in-Chief of Chemical Sciences Journal, and Professor in Department of Medical Devices, Chuo University, Japan, Email:

Editorial Note

A chemical or natural additive used to improve or change the color of a raw or prepared food. Food coloring can be a colorant, a pigment or a material manufactured for food use and licensed for use in the U.S. by government agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There are 9 different FDA-approved color additives in the U.S. That include: 3 tints of red, 2 tints of blue, 2 tints of yellow and 1 tint of green. Colors are powders, oils, granules, or different types of colors that can be broken up during food preparing with water or oils. Colors are the most well-known assortment of food shading used to change the shade of the food being prepared in homes. Even foods can be colored with natural additives in addition to chemical additives, which do not require FDA approval. Color additives are used by a wide range of food producers, cooks, and food preparers to make baked goods, Cereals, Condiments, Cookies and Dairy products.

In old occasions, regular fixings spice concentrates, and vegetable and natural product peelings were utilized to add rich shading to nourishments. The food coloring agents used was Berries and beetroot for red to pink color Grapes, spinach and parsley for green color Saffron, turmeric and carrots for yellow to orange color. Many of our ancestors have used naturally occurring substances like vitamin Azure, Gold leaf some of which were harmful and Wine was artificially colored beginning in at least 300 BC. The earliest written record of the use of natural dyes dates back to 2600 BC in China, and the addition of colorants to food is recorded in Europe during the Bronze Age. It is likewise revealed that around 1500 BC in Egyptian urban communities candy producers used to add characteristic concentrates and wine to improve the appearance.