Euro natural colors’ market spilling over to the States

 By Grace Weitz 

 excerpts from April 2011 CandyIndustry.com

 The colors of the food rainbow have long been Allura Red, Ponceau 4R, Tartrazine, Sunset Yellow FCT/Orange Yellow, Quinoline Yellow, and Carmoisine. But with synthetic colors practically eradicated overseas, all those hues are turning a shade purer.

Natural colors – colors derived from natural sources such as vegetables, fruits or minerals – seemed to thrive in 2009, with the global food color market boasting a 2.1% growth and worth an estimated $1.45 billion, reports Leatherhead Food Research.

In the United States alone that year, new product launches with natural colors accounted for 3.7% of the confectionery market, states Innova Market Insights. That dropped to 2.2% in 2010, but companies still are latching onto this sector because of the recent changes in the European market. Europe’s artificial color sector began to disappear after the 2007 Southampton Study linked synthetic colors to a potential increase in hyperactivity in kids.

Since then, the European Union has enforced stricter labeling laws. Effective July 2010, all companies are required to post a warning sign that contain any of  ”The Southampton Six” – Alurra Red (aka Red 40), Ponceau 4R (EL24), Tartrazine (Yellow 5) (E102), Sunset Yellow FCT/Orange Yellow (Yellow 6) (E110), Quinoline Yellow (E104) and Carmoisine (E102).

In the United States, the Food Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t had quite the same reaction as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Campbell Barnum, the V.P. of branding and market development at D.D. Williamson, a global natural color manufacturer, says that conclusions from the Southampton study are debatable from a scientific perspective, which is why the FDA hasn’t been as eager to react.

Jason Armao, the applications project manager at D. D. Williamson, notes that, although there hasn’t been a full switch to natural colors like in Europe, companies are preparing in case the FDA goes down the same avenue in the future …

…Barnum points out also that with the Web, and all the information out there, people are more informed and turning to products with naturally derived colors as opposed to artificial ones. “The synthetic colors for the most part in the U.S. are labeled as FD&C colors and that may give a consumer a negative perception about the product,” says Armao, It may not, but it just depends on the level of knowledge that the consumer has or their interest in a healthy diet.”…