Natural Food Colours Association

Colours and some of the other agents added to food, however, have less obvious benefit for the consumer and are probably more important for the manufacturer. Enhancing the attractiveness of food, for example, increases its saleability, which would appear to be the main reason for the use of some additives such as colouring agents. Often we as consumers prefer to have attractively coloured food, but recently many consumers have begun to question the unnecessary use of additives in food and to demand additive-free food or the use of natural additives. While this may satisfy those who believe that natural substances are intrinsically safe, the fact is that natural products can be just as toxic as synthetic ones (see pp. 145-58, 240-57). Therefore each natural food additive also needs to be assessed for safety. For example, a tin of custard powder may claim to contain no artificial colours but contains annatto as colouring, which while it may be of natural origin has been associated with adverse effects (see below). 

Apart from its use as a valuable mordant dyestuff for textiles, cochineal (EEC 120) is still used as a colourant in cosmetics, foods, aperitif and beverages (ref. 194) and is one of the several permitted natural colourants which includes for example p-carotene, betanidin from Beta vulgaris, curcumin from Curcuma tonga, certain anthocyanins and chlorophyll complexes to quote a few structures. Commercial interest in natural products such as cochineal and carminic acid has been reactivated by the increasing pressures to avoid synthetic azo colours, their association with potential carcinogenic attributes and the increasing popularity of green issues. Carminic acid is reputed to possess some anticancer activity (ref. 195,196) and is a distant structural relative of the antibiotics, carminomycin and carminomycinone. 

---