When food color innovation turned decisively toward nature for its sources of desirable pigments, food color technologists worked overtime to develop cost-effective, clean-label colors. Some shades proved an extra challenge, with stability and fixing being major trouble spots. Red colors figured largely in that task.
The color red elicits many emotional responses. It is eye-catching, bold, powerful, and—in some shades—even cheerful or romantic. In foods and beverages, red can communicate intensity of flavor, rich mouthfeel, and high nutritional content. Whether the deep burgundy of a pinot noir, the crimson hue of fresh meat, or the bright scarlet of a cherry confection, shades of red in foods and beverages prime the appetite center in our brain for a dynamic sensory experience.