California Natural Color: Clean Label Color
California Natural Color’s Pure Brown Carrot brings warm brown shades to applications
PHOTO COURTESY OF: California Natural Color
California Natural Color is pleased to highlight a color solution from its natural colors portfolio: Pure Brown Carrot.
Food and beverage formulators looking to bring warm brown shades to applications—without turning to caramel coloring—can utilize Pure Brown Carrot. As brands look to shift toward recognizable, consumer-friendly labels and away from overly processed ingredients, Pure Brown Carrot offers manufacturers an ideal coloring solution simply labeled as “Vegetable Juice for Color” or “Carrot Concentrate/Extract.”
The color also aligns with evolving consumer trends. FMCG Gurus noted “prioritizing pleasure” or permissible indulgence as its top trend prediction for 2025,1 echoing the appeal of Pantone’s 2025 Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse—a color that represents warmth and comfort. Pure Brown Carrot is a versatile color that bridges the gap between emotional appeal and ingredient transparency.
Pure Brown Carrot performs well in a variety of applications and holds up to heat, light and pH. The color provides a versatile palette of brown hues and is ideal for brands looking to adopt a cleaner label strategy and shift away from caramel coloring.
While manufacturers seek out natural colors that will perform under processing demands, it has become clear that consumers need to be addressed as well.
“Today’s consumers are reading food labels, and prefer products that contain ingredients with names they recognize,” said Dana Osborn, marketing manager of California Natural Color.
A US Food & Drug Administration’s Food Safety & Nutrition report found that more than 75% of consumers read ingredient lists on labels “often” or “sometimes” when they purchase, with nearly half (47%) “very” or “extremely” concerned about artificial ingredients such as synthetic colors.2
“Our Pure Brown Carrot color makes it possible to create a range of food and beverage products in a beautiful golden or deep brown shade with a clean and simple label,” added Osborn. “This color solution is available in our proprietary crystal color technology, providing an exceptionally high color concentration—around five times more concentrated than competitors’ liquid colors.”
Pure Brown Carrot offers a multitude of advantages including:
• Fast solubility, easily dispersed
• Crystal form delivers less dust in handling
• Superior color stability
• Five-year shelf life, with no refrigeration required
• Carrier-free
• Non-GMO
• Kosher
• Halal
• Zero calories in use
The team of experts at California Natural Color can help manufacturers reformulate existing products or create a custom color match for their application. Pure Brown Carrot is ideal for a range of applications including confections, dairy, beverages, baking, sauces, meat and meat analogues, and pet food.
Request a sample of California Natural Color’s Pure Brown Carrot.
Learn more about the advantages of their crystal delivery format and explore turnkey natural color solutions ideal for clean label formulations.
REFERENCES:
1. FMCG Gurus, Top Ten Trends for 2025
2. Food Safety & Nutrition Survey Report
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