In the world of food colorants, the anti-artificial trend governs the space today, with natural colors appearing in about 75% of new food product launches. Consumers still use their eyes to choose foods, but they want the ingredients, including (and sometimes especially) any colors, to be derived from biological sources, such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other botanicals.
The pigments, flavors, and nutraceutical compounds of many of these plant-derived coloring ingredients are retained during the extraction process, allowing the resulting product to be used as a functional ingredient within food products, rather than as a color additive. This growing method of natural color usage allows developers and brands to leverage the “health halo” of certain color-carrying raw ingredients, creating cleaner ingredient lines and an improved perception of healthfulness.