Dye Supply Gone Dry?
Posted On August 14, 2008
In 2007, a late frost decimated European elderberry crops. Although this crop, and so the natural coloring it produced, were grown in other areas of the world, it drove the cost up significantly. This kind of cost craziness that can vary from year to year, makes the industry and their investors, well, crazy.
“Natural colours could be more vulnerable to supply issues than synthetic colours. Since natural colours are derived from natural products (fruit, vegetables and other sources), their supply is more susceptible to weather related and shelf life issues than synthetic colours,” Jody Renner-Nantz, Food Science Chemist at DD Williamson Support Center in the US told FoodNavigator.com.
Because of this little nettle, food chemists are now trying to synthesize the chemicals naturally derived in everything from beets to bugs, to be able to return to large scale, industrial batch processing.
The synthesized anthocyanins, for example, can be manipulated chemically to turn shade you want. “You name it – from white to deep purple, and everything in between,” said the CEO of the company that wants to market the colors.
But here, they want to have it both ways. They want to synthesize a product and call it natural. “The definition of natural can be tough. The compounds we will manufacture are the same compounds in the natural sources. There is no difference between these compounds structurally.”
The final decision will be made by the FDA. In other words, companies producing “synthetic natural flavors” should begin now investing in lobbyists.
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