Margarine, coloring

Com oil s flavor, color, stabiHty, retained clarity at refrigerator temperatures, polyunsaturated fatty acid composition, and vitamin E content make it a premium vegetable oil. The major uses are frying or salad appHcations (50%) and margarine formulations (35%). 

A food must have the expected or proper appearance and color before it will be readily consumed (7). There are many prepared foods in which artificial flavors and colors are used whose flavor is sufticientiy bland to make color essential for flavor identification, eg, margarine. The preservation of color in natural food during processing or the development of color by processing are aspects of primary importance in food acceptance. 

Margarine and butter contain fat plus water and water-soluble ingredients, eg, salt and milk soHds that impart flavor and color to the product. Generally these products are distributed at refrigerated temperatures to retain their quaHty. Greaseproof packaging, such as polyethylene-coated paperboard, aluminum foil/paper, parchment paper wraps, and polypropylene tubs, is used for butter and margarine (see Dairy substitutes). 

The colorant is used at 2—50 ppm as pure color to shade margarine, shortening, butter, cheese (4 ), baked goods, confections, ice cream, eggnog, macaroni products, soups, juices, and beverages (58). Its chief advantages over other colorants are its nutritional value and its abiUty to dupHcate natural yellow to orange shades. 

Later it was found growing in South America where the Indians used the red dye from the seeds as a body paint. An extract of the seeds appears on the market as annatto. This extract is used in coloring butter, margarine, and cheese such as Leicester cheese. In Mexican and South American cuisine, it finds special use as a flavor and coloring matter. The seeds are sold under the name achiote in many Latin grocery stores and markets. Ann at o is available as an aqueous solution, as an oleaginous dispersion, and a spray-dried powder. 

Azo-coupled products are widely used as dyes for textiles because their extended conjugated tt electron system causes them to absorb in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum (Section 14.9). / -(Dimethylamino)azobenzene, for instance, is a bright yellow compound that was at one time used as a coloring agent in margarine. 

Many foods and products become much more appealing if they have color. Margarine would look like vegetable shortening if it weren t for added color. 

Annatto provides color in cheese, butter, margarine, and microwave popcorn. It is often used as a substitute for the expensive herb saffron. It also has antioxidant properties. 

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. 

Eoodstuffs in which only a limited list of colors may be used (margarine to which E 160a and E 100 may be added quantum satis E 160b, maximum 10 mg/kg)... 

U.S. butter lobby legislation enacted to prevent margarine being visually mistaken for butter (colored bright pink in some states and white in many others)... 

The more margarine people ate, the more worried the dairj industry became. Once again it exercised its clout, spurring legislation to equalize butter and margarine prices and to prohibit the sale of margarine that was colored to make it look like... 

In 1886, the U.S. Congress passed the Margarine Act, which added a hefty tax to margarine and required expensive licenses to make or sell it. States also passed laws forbidding manufacturers to add yellow coloring to the naturally pale spread. Why do you suppose these laws were enacted Do you agree with these sorts of laws ... 

Unsaturated fats, as noted in Section 13.3, tend to be liquids at room temperature. They can be transformed to a more solid consistency, however, by hydrogenation, a chemical process in which hydrogen atoms are added to carbon—carbon double bonds. Mix a partially hydrogenated vegetable oil with yellow food coloring, a little salt, and the organic compound butyric acid for flavor, and you have margarine, which become popular around the time of World War II as an alternative to butter. Many food products, such as chocolate bars, contain partially... 

For oil-based food samples containing only hydrocarbon carotenoids or nonesterified xanthophylls that are visibly yellow to red in color (e.g., margarine) la. Weigh 0.5 to 5.0 g of sample. 

The main uses for food coloring are in cakes, fruit-based products, beverages, margarine, cheese, certain fish products, and confectionery. 

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