Define term Food Colours

The color of a food product plays a very  important part  in  its acceptance by  the  consumer. Many  of  the food processing operations  like  drying, canning, roasting, frying etc. lead to loss of the attractive natural color of foods. This makes  the addition of  synthetic color to  the processed food essential. You would, for example, surely reject a can of cherries which were brown  in colour instead of a bright  red  or  a  can  of peas which  are  a  dirty greenish-yellow instead of bright green. Color additives are also used  in foods to correct natural variations in  food colour. A manufacturer would want,  for instance, that every batch  of his  orange marmalade is the same shade of orange.  A  few other reasons of adding colors to foods include:

• to enhance colors that occur naturally but at levels weaker than those usually associated with a given food.
• to provide a colorful identity to foods that would otherwise be visually colorless.

• to protect nutrients  such as  vitamins  and  flavors that  may  be  affected  by sunlight.

• to provide an appealing variety  of  foods to consumers.

• to  compensate for  natural  or  seasonal variations  in  food,  raw material or the effects of processing  and storage to meet  consumer expectations.

• The addition of coloring matter  is, however,  restricted to only specified items of food. Any  extraneous addition of  coloring matter  has to  be written on  the label attached  to  any  ~package  of  food.  So next  time  you purchase a  packet  of  cream biscuits, candy or a tetra pack of fruit  juice, check the label for any of the following declarations in capital letters: