Certified food colors

Certification marks, 25 253, 261 Certified food colors, 72 49—50 Certified industrial hygienists (CIH), 74 203... 

JB Hallagan. The use of certified food color additives in the United States. Cereal Foods World 36(11) 945-948, 1991. 

Brown, J. R Roehm, G. W. Brown, R. J. Mutagenicity testing of certified food colors and related azo, xanthene and triphenyhnethane dyes with the SahnoneUa/microsome system. Mutat. Res. 1978, 56, 249-271. 

Artificial honey contains invert sugar (>50%), sucrose (<38.5%) water (<22%), ash (<0.5%) and, when necessary, saccharified starch products (<38.5%). The pH of the mixture should he >2.5. The aroma carrier is primarily phenylacetic acid ethyl ester and, occasionally, diacetyl, etc. Hydroxymethyl furfural content is 0.08—0.14%. The product is often colored with certified food colors. 

Based on maximum color concentrations and the total annual production of food in each food category, the total certified food color that might be ingested per person per year is estimated to be 19.5 g. Based on recent annual colorant production figures and current total population, this figure is closer to 11 g/yr. 

B. T. Hunter, Consumer Bulletin, 20—24 (May 1973). U.S. Certified Food Dyes—A look at the record of governmental failure to safeguard America s food products. A criticism of government s role in controlling the use of food colors. 

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. 

Natural Food Colorants Authorized as Exempt by EU and US Certifying Organizations ... 

The food industry, following scientific and technological developments and market demands, takes into account consumer wishes to have more naturally colored foods and adapts its methodologies to safer ways of producing food. In recent decades, we experienced a shift from exclusive use of certifiable synthetic colorants to exempt colorants and to natural complex extracts. 

Synthetic Food Colorants Used as Certifiable Dyes or Lakes and Current Status... 

By the beginning of 1909, the food color question seemed to be heading rapidly towards a conclusion satisfactory to Wiley and Hesse. Two firms were competing to produce goods of hitherto unavailable quality, and one had begun to accept orders. The Board had accepted certificates for batches of all seven colors, so there were now standards for the colors, even if these were known only to Hesse, the Board, a few men in the Bureau s New York laboratory, and the certifiers themselves (48). 

Over the years that followed, an overwhelming majority of the primary dyes used in food came from certified lots. Both the number of batches and the total pounds certified grew steadily over the life of the Wiley Act. Thus the voluntary certification plan worked reasonably well. With the enactment of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, food color certification became mandatory. Although somewhat modified, in response to changed scientific standards, by the Color Additive Amendment of 1960, Hesse s procedures remain today the basis of American regulatory policy. 

The FD C Act divided the synthetic colors into three categories colors for foods, drugs, and cosmetics (FD C), colors for drugs and cosmetics (D C), and colors for externally applied drugs and cosmetics (external D C). All synthetic colorants approved for use today must meet the specifications, uses, and restrictions as described in Title 21 of the CFR (Parts 74, 81, and 82). Certified synthetic colorants are the primary source of colorants used in the pharmaceutical industry. 

Use Formerly a certified food and drug colorant. (Replaced for some applications by FDC Red No. 40.) Textile dye, color photography. 

Erythrosine, a food colorant certified as Red No. 3, contains 58% iodine and is used in carbonated soft drinks, powdered drinks, gelatin desserts, icings and pet foods. The solvent Red 73 is used for dyeing and printing cotton, in printing half silk, and in dyeing jute and straw products. Fluoroiodocarbons are intermediates in the manufacture of oil and water repellents, sur-... 

Pet foods— Although not for human consumption, pet food coloring is under the jurisdiction of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Traditionally, iron oxide has been used to color pet foods because of its stability during the retorting operation. However, the certified colors are used extensively in dry extruded pet foods. 

There are two classes of color additives, those that must be certified and those that are exempt from certification. Both are strictly controlled in the United States by regulatory statutes (Food Color Additives Amendments), but an official certificate is required for each commercial batch of color of the first group, while no such certificate is necessary for the second group. For certification the manufacturer must submit a sample of the batch to the Food Drug Administration for chemical analysis. The results of the analysis are compared with the specifications for certified colors published in the Code of Federal Regulations. If the compliance is complete, a certificate is issued for that particular batch of color. 

Colorants. According to U.S. regulations, colorants are divided into two classes certified and exempt (see Colorants for foods, drugs, COSMETICS, AND MEDICAL DEVICES). Batch samples of certified colors must be sent to the FDA for analysis and confirmation that the colorants comply with estabhshed specifications. Color manufacturers pay a small fee for each batch of color that is analy2ed. The number of certified colors available to food technologists has declined. Several of the historical colorants were found to have carcinogenic effects. Table 1 shows the certified colors that are permissible for food use in the United States as of 1993. 

---