ColorMaker believes that the information presented is accurate, timely and meaningful.  We recommend however that you read further on the subject or seek professional help from colorMaker or other suppliers of quality natural colors.

No one needs to be told that color, possibly more than any other factor, influences the acceptance of products by consumers.  It affects their overall judgment, as color is seen as synonymous with quality and is used as a strong indicator of product safety and value.  Consequently, over the centuries color has come to play a prominent role in the things important to man -- his food, his medicine and his physical appearance.  The information provided here should prove indispensable to anyone who wishes to use natural colors in these or other areas.

Available Colors

TYPES OF COLORS

Today’s food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic manufacturers can draw from an array of dyes and pigments, synthetic or naturally derived, to color their products. Although synthetic colors have been favored over the past 100 years, processors have recently turned to naturally derived colorants as a viable alternative, responding to an ever-increasing consumer demand for natural products.

The palette of colors available to manufacturers is made up of three types:

Synthetic Colors: These do not occur in nature and are produced by chemical synthesis. These colors, especially in the U.S., must be tested for purity and certified, batch by batch, prior to sale to manufacturers. Thus the term "Certified colors."

Nature Identical Colors: These colors are also manufactured by chemical synthesis, but do not require FDA certification and are considered chemically and functionally indistinguishable from the same colorant found in nature.

Natural Colors: These are extracted from agricultural/biological materials using conventional methods and do not require certification. The word "Natural" as it pertains to colors, has never been defined and therefore has no universally accepted definition. During preparation of the U.S. Color Additives Amendment of 1960, law makers were faced with a dilemma caused by the commercial introduction of synthetically made but chemically identical B-carotene. Should the color require certification (since it was synthesized from acetone) or was it natural, since analytically it was indistinguishable from the naturally extracted colorant? In an attempt to find a solution, law makers utilized a new term "Color additives exempt from certification" to encompass both "natural colors" and "nature-identical" colors. Due to this turn of events, the term "natural colors" does not legally exist and is not recognized by FDA. It was left up to each manufacturer to define "natural" for itself.

NATURAL COLORS

FDA lists the Colors Exempt from Certification in 21 CFR, part 73 for food, drug and cosmetics. Refer to FDA for details on usage limitations. From this FDA approved color additive listing, ColorMaker selected the following colorants as meeting its definition of "natural".