Food colors annatto

ANNATTO FOOD COLORS. These colors are natural carotenoid colorants derived from the seed of the tropical annatto tree (Bixa nrellana). The surface of the seeds contains a highly colored resin, consisting primarily of the carotenoid bixin. The bixin is extracted from the seed by a special process to produce a pure, soluble colorant. Bixin, one of the relatively few naturally occurring cts compounds, has a chemical structure similar to the nucleus of carotene with a free and esterified carboxyl group as end groups. Its formula is CM LoCL. (See Fig. I). 

The other natural colorants previously mentioned have been used for many years and are familiar to nearly everyone. Annatto colors are described in a separate entry. Annatto Food Colors. 

See also Annatto Food Colors Carotenoids Chlorophylls Colorants (Foods) and Photosynthesis. 

LW Levy, E Regalado, S Navarrete, RH Watkins. Bixin and norbixin in human plasma determination and study of the absorption of a single dose of Annatto food color. Analyst 122 977-980, 1997. 

Annatto Food Colors, Charles Hansen s Laboratory, Milwaukee, Wis. 

Human allergic reactions to annatto food coloring include IgE-mediated anaphylaxis in a man who consumed a breakfast cereal containing the dye. Other clinical reports suggest the possibility that angioedema and urticaria... 

Hnnatto Food Colors Charles Hansen s Laboratory, Milwaukee, Wis. A brief description of what annatto is and how it is used. 

In addition to the U.S. certified coal-tar colorants, some noncertified naturally occurring plant and animal colorants, such as alkanet, annatto [1393-63-17, carotene [36-884] C qH, chlorophyll [1406-65-17, cochineal [1260-17-9] saffron [138-55-6] and henna [83-72-7], can be used in cosmetics. In the United States, however, natural food colors, such as beet extract or powder, turmeric, and saffron, are not allowed as cosmetic colorants. 

Mercadante, A.Z., Composition of carotenoids from annatto, in Chemistry and Physiology of Selected Food Colorants, Ames, J.M. and Hofmann, T.E., Eds., ACS Symposium Series 775, Washington, 2001, chap. 6. 

Detailed information about carotenoids found in food or extracted from food and evaluated for their potential as food colorants appeared in Sections 4.2 and 6.2. We would like to mention some new data about the utilization of pure carotenoid molecules or extracts as allowed food additives. Looking to the list of E-coded natural colorants (Table 7.2.1), we can identify standardized colorants E160a through f, E 161a, and E161b as natural or semi-synthetic derivatives of carotenoids provided from carrots, annatto, tomatoes, paprika, and marigold. In addition, the extracts (powders or oleoresins) of saffron, - paprika, and marigold are considered more economical variants in the United States and European Union. 

Use of the natural color and food color terms is not permitted because they may indicate that a color occurs naturally. The acceptable descriptions include artificial color, artificial color added, and color added but they do not provide any real benefit. A preferred description is to note that a product is colored with, then name the color source, e.g., annatto. If the name of the specific color is not included, the label declaration must also state artificially colored or artificial color addedf ... 

Francis, F. J., Food colorants anthocyanins, Crit. Rev. Food ScL Nutr., 28, 273, 1987. Evans, W.C., Annatto a natural choice. Biologist, 47, 181, 2000. 

LEVY, L. w. Annatto. Chap. 6 in Natural Food Colorants. Edit. G. J. Lauro and F. J. Francis. Marcel Dekker, New York, 2000, pp. 115-52. 

Boyd, W.A. 2000. Annatto and other carotenoid food colorants in dairy application. In Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Natural Colorants for Foods, Neutraceuticals, Beverages, Confectionery Cosmetics (J.F. Francis, ed.), pp. 24—31. SIC Publishing, Hamden. 

Hagiwara A, Imai N, Doi Y, et al. (2003). Absence of liver tumor promoting effects of annatto extract (norbixin), a natural carotenoid food color, in a medium-term liver carcinogenesis bioassay using male F344 rats. Cancer Lett. 199 9-17. 

Hagiwara, A., N. Imai, T. Ichihara, et al. 2003. A thirteen-week oral toxicity study of annatto extract (norbixin), a natural food color extracted from the seed coat of annatto (Bixa orellana L.), in Sprague-Dawley rats. Food Chem. Toxicol. 41(8) 1157-1164. 

The results of provocation tests with food additives in chronic urticaria has also been reported by other Danish authors. Brodthagen et al. (1974) found positive reactions in 30% of his patients and Kaaber (1978) found one or more precipitating factors in 35% of 65 patients. When the reactions to various dyes were analyzed in 23 positive patients, 3 reacted to tartrazine and 3 to other azo dyes 5 reacted to annatto, 3 to erythrosine, and 2 to sodium benzoate. From France, Meynadier et al. (1979) recently reported one or more positive reactions in 17 of 24 cases with chronic urticaria. An urticarial reaction was seen after ingestion of aspirin in 10, food colors in 11, and preservatives in 6 patients. 

Bixin (328) is one of a number of deeply colored carotenoid degradation materials that can be isolated from the pericarp of the fruit of the tree Bixa orellana. Extracts, known as Annatto, are used as yellow food colors E 160(b). Other components include the trans isomer and nor-bixin. The extraction and chemistry of Annatto has been reviewed by... 

The colorant is prepared by leaching the annatto seeds with an extractant prepared from one or more approved, food-grade materials taken from a hst that includes various solvents, edible vegetable oils and fats, and alkaline aqueous and alcohoHc solutions (46,47). Depending on the use intended, the alkaline extracts are often treated with food-grade acids to precipitate the annatto pigments, which ia turn may or may not be further purified by recrystallization from an approved solvent. Annatto extract is one of the oldest known dyes, used siace antiquity for the coloring of food, textiles, and cosmetics. It has been used ia the United States and Europe for over 100 years as a color additive for butter and cheese (48—50). 

Because annatto binds well to the proteins in dairy foods, it is often used to add color to milk products such as butter, cheese, or puddings. 

Beta-carotene is used in foods to provide color (margarine would look as white as vegetable shortening without it). Another similar molecule, annatto, is used in cheeses. Another famous carotenoid dye, saffron, is used to color rice and other foods. 

Saffron is a spice that is used sometimes for flavor, but mostly for the yellow color it imparts to foods. Because of its expense, saffron is often replaced in recipes by another carotenoid, annatto, or the unrelated dye molecule in turmeric. Like the other carotenoid dyes, saffron is an antioxidant, but its expense makes it unsuitable as a preservative or dietary supplement. 

Shumaker, E.K. and Wendorff, W.L., Factors affecting pink discoloration in annatto-colored pasteurized process cheese, J. Food ScL, 63, 828, 1998. 

Bixin is an oil soluble, highly stable coloring ingredient. The saponification of the methyl ester group to form the dicarboxylic acid yields the water-soluble form of bixin, sometimes called norbixin. Annatto colorants date back into antiquity. The colorant has been used for centuries in connection with various textiles, medicinals, cosmetics, and foods. Annatto colors have also been used to color cheese, butter, and other dairy products for over a century. See also Carotenoids. 

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