Colorants, food turmeric

Turmeric is used mainly as a spice, to give specific flavor and color, but also as an additive for maintaining freshness and improving the palatability and shelf lives of perishable foods. Turmeric is also well documented for its biological effects and it was widely used in traditional Indian and Chinese medicine. In Ayurveda, turmeric is used as a stomachic, tonic, and blood purifier, and also in the treatment of skin diseases. 

Exempt colors do not have to undergo formal FDA certification requirements, hut are monitored for purity. The colorants exempt from FD C certification are annatto extract, /i-carolene, beet powder, 0-apo—8 -carntenol. canlhaxanthin. caramel, carmine, carrot oil. cochineal extract, cottonseed Hour, ferrous gluconate, fruit juices, grape skin extract, paprika, paprika oleoresin. riboflavin, saffron, titanium dioxide, turmeric, turmeric oleoresin. ultramarine blue, and vegetable juices. See also Colorants (Foods). 

Phenylazo)-2-naphthylamine Ponceau 3R Red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus) Rhodoxanthin Riboflavin Riboflavin-5 -phosphate sodium Rubixanthin Saffron (Crocus sativus) Sandalwood (Santalum album) Tannic acid Tartrazine Titanium dioxide Turmeric (Curcuma longa) Turmeric (Curcuma longa) extract . Ultramarine blue Vegetable carbon Violoxanthin Xanthophyll colorant, food processing Carbon black... 

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. 

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. 

Turmeric is well established in the food supply and if it is proven to have a health effect as well as a colorant and flavor component, its future would seem assured. 

Curcumin (16) is a polyphenolic compound derived naturally from the plant Curcuma longa also known as turmeric (Haldi). It is the primary source of the distinctive bright yellow color of the spice commonly used in the preparation of curries. Originating in India, turmeric was probably cultivated initially as a dye, and later used in cosmetics and foods. It has... 

Nowadays a wide variety of food ingredients are already produced in an encapsulated form. These comprise artificial sweeteners (aspartame), flavouring agents such as oils or spices (with desirable flavour but possibly undesirable odour), natural colorants (e.g., p-carotene, turmeric), preservatives, acids (citric, lactic and ascorbic), bases, buffers, enzymes, lactic acid bacteria, and some antioxidants (Kirby, 1991 Gibbs et al, 1999 Chen et al, 2006b Ubbink and Kruger, 2006 Augustin and He-... 

Buescher, R. and Yang, L. (2000) Turmeric. In Lauro, C.L. and Fancis, F.J. (eds) Natural Food Colorants. Science and Technology. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 205-226. 

Food and Agricultural Organization (1976) Turmeric in Specifications for the Identity of Some Food Colors, Flavor Enhancers, WHO Food Additives Series No.1 3, Rome, 1 976. 

The turmeric rhizome is a main ingredient of curry powder. It gives color and flavor to food, and it has aromatic, stimulant, and carminative properties. This herb is used traditionally in India to treat biliary disorders, anorexia, cough, diabetic wounds, liver disorders, rheumatism, and sinusitis and in China for abdominal pains and jaundice. Turmeric has a protective effect on the liver, stimulates bile secretion in animals, and is recommended for use in liver disorders. 

The system of classification used by Dalzell (1997) includes two other groups of natural food colorants the phenalones (e.g., circumin and turmeric) (Fig. 7.8) anthraquinone (Fig. 7.9) (cochineal carmine). Other naturally occurring coloured... 

BUESCHER, R. and yang, l. Turmeric. Chap 9 in Natural Food Colorants. Edit. G. J. Lauro and F. J. Francis. Marcel Dekker, New York, 2000, pp. 205-26. 

Apart from the derivatives of p-carotene, other pigments are the anthocyanins, the chlorophylls, cochineal, the betalaines, turmeric, caramel and riboflavin. In this account the historical background in brief, the chemistry of these pigments, their extraction from natural sources and their synthesis will be discussed. The present permitted natural substances and nature-identical synthetic materials (also described by the Food and Drugs Administration, the FDA, as colorants exempt from certification ) is quite small in number. Reference is also made to colourants no longer listed but which have an historical organic chemical significance such as for example brazilin and its relative haematoxylin. 

Curcuma domestica. Half-processed rhizomes of Curcunui domestica are known ns turmeric and are used as a food coloring agent. The rhizomes are also used as tradilioiial medicines. New antioxidants (compounds 2 and 3) were isolated from the dry rhizomes of the plant, the structures of which are shown in Figure 2., - ntioxidant activity of the compounds are displayed in Figure 3(11). 

Kumkum, a turmeric-based paste applied topically, has been associated with cases of dermatitis (Nath and Thappa 2007). Cases of contact urticaria from the compounds curcumin and tetrahydrocurcumin have been reported (Fischer and Agner 2004 Lamb and Wilkinson 2003 Liddle et al. 2006 Thompson and Tan 2006). Contact dermatitis with positive patch test for turmeric was reported in a spice shop worker routinely exposed to spice powders (Goh and Ng 1987). Similarly, contact dermatitis was reported in a pasta factory worker exposed to curcumin food coloring (Kiec-Swierczynska and Krecisz 1998). Two cases of contact dermatitis were reported in individuals using a topical ointment containing turmeric. Patch testing of both individuals indicated a sensitivity to both turmeric and curcumin (Hata et al. 1997 Sakurane et al. 1999). 

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