Most naturally, a color is the first thing that a consumer registers when selecting a beverage or food item and it affects a food and beverage’s perceived taste, freshness, quality, and the overall consumer appeal of a product. With consumers expecting a cleaner labeled product in many instances the use of natural food colors vs. Artificial colors are something that manufacturers consider while addressing those consumer expectations.
In the use of natural food colors vs artificial food colors although the benefits to appearance and consistency would appear similar there may be a few other distinguishing considerations of origin, labeling, consumer acceptance and formulation.
What Are Natural Food Colors?
Natural Food Colors Naturally derived colors come from fruit, vegetables, plants, algae, spices, and other botanicals. They can be utilized in beverages, confectioneries, bakeries, dairy, snacks, and other applications. These natural colorants can benefit companies launching clean-label or naturally-derived products. Manufacturers may utilize natural colors as a natural ingredient story while producing bright, eye-catching products.
What Are Artificial Food Colors?
Artificial food colors are synthetically developed color additives that offer great color strength, consistency, and high vibrancy in a variety of food & beverage applications even at very low usage levels. In the past, the ingredient list, for the most part, had very few natural colors and artificially produced colors were used for virtually everything. As consumers begin scrutinizing product ingredient lists, for all intents and purposes there is a conscious movement away from artificially developed food colors and the inclination to naturally sourced colors is becoming more prevalent as brands develop their product lines.
Consumer Perception and Trust
When looking at natural vs. Artificial coloring-the consumer preference has a great role. Transparency in ingredients and ability to recognize them, and being able to meet their individual preferences is key for consumers today.
Natural colors can also play a role in this-it can allow brands to showcase that the colors were naturally sourced. For brands in premium, wellness, organic and clean labels space-this is extremely valuable.
Performance and Product Development
Natural and Artificial Food Colors have different responses in pH, heat, light, and oxygen, among other formulations. Because every application is different, manufacturers must know how they plan on using and processing their color, such as for beverages, gummies, dairy products, or baked goods.
The consistency that Artificial Food Color offers remains quite good, and the newer natural color technology is producing versatile solutions for demanding applications.
Why Natural Colors Can Strengthen Brand Positioning
Natural Food Colors can help brands with a clear focus on naturalness and innovation in clean-label products to make their products unique, in line with overall initiatives on natural ingredients and accountable sourcing, product positioning. They could offer the brand the ability to tap into and address emerging consumer trends that tend towards “less complex” and “more natural” products.
Conclusion
Whether the question comes down to which natural vs artificial colour is best varies according to the company that’s doing the developing, the end audience, and the business intentions of that product. But with a consumer that continues to seek both clear product communications, and products in a naturally led category positioning, Natural Food Colours can play a vital part in forming a closer relationship with consumers. By focusing on innovation, quality, sustainability and application, FoodRGB® delivers custom natural colouring & sweetening systems for companies of all sizes globally seeking to naturally colour any of their existing product lines for a number of consumer expectations.
