What are natural food coloring alternatives for drinks?

Developers can replace synthetic dyes in drinks with natural food coloring alternatives across the rainbow like fruit and vegetable juices as well as advanced natural color solutions like Sensient’s Marine Blue™ Capri, Pure-S™ Orange, or Sienna™.

How can I color beverages naturally?

Work with a natural color supplier like Sensient to find the best solutions for your project, which will vary depending on your formula, processing, target shade, cost restrictions, and other factors.

What are safe natural drink colorants?

Safety is critical in food and beverage production, and Sensient’s industry-leading food safety program, Certasure™, ensures that all of our botanically sourced natural colors are safe, reliable, and high quality.

What are the best natural color additives for carbonated drinks?

The best natural color additives for carbonated drinks are those that are stable in low pH and high water activity. Anthocyanins, carotenoids, and advanced technologies like Sensient’s Marine Blue™ Capri or Sienna™ fruit juice are excellent choices.

Natural Color for Carbonated Soft Drinks

What do developers need to know to start the color development process?

Acidity of a product is always a key factor in natural color selection, and in general carbonated soft drinks are formulated to have a pH of 4.0 or less. Acidic beverages like these will need acid-stable natural color solutions like anthocyanins or carotenoids.

Processing conditions can also play a role. The majority of carbonated soft drinks are cold filled and preserved, so the colors used in these products are typically heat stable and can cover the whole rainbow.

If your base has a clouding agent, that may influence natural color performance and it can help your color supplier find the best options for you if you are able to provide your base for testing. If not, just the pH is typically enough for us to get started!

What is the biggest challenge for natural color development in RTD beverages and carbonated soft drinks?

Usage rates and cost increases compared to synthetic dyes are significant factors in the beverage space. Synthetic dyes can be used at very low usage rates, so when converting to natural colors, more color is needed to achieve the same vibrancy. Highly concentrated solutions like those in Sensient’s portfolio can help offset this usage rate increase, but there are no natural color solutions that match the concentration of synthetic dyes. Synthetic dyes are also significantly more cost effective than natural replacements, so the cost impact is compounded.

It’s important for developers and their teams to understand that it is not possible to achieve both neutral cost impact and matching color intensity in a synthetic-to-natural conversion project. With that in mind, a guidance on cost targets can help my team stay focused on solutions that fit your project, rather than offering colors or technologies that are incompatible with nonnegotiable budgets.

My team is very aware of the usage level and cost-in-use comparisons in conversion projects, and it is always important to us to offer multiple options to our customers so that you are able to select the option that best fits your needs. Sometimes that “best fit” may prioritize cost vs shade, and that’s a decision we empower your team to make.

Do you have natural colors for international use and exports?

My team works regularly with brands and manufacturers that serve the U.S. and Canadian markets, and often Mexico as well. Sensient’s global locations can support international projects, but there is no rainbow available that meets the restrictions of every market around the world. Therefore, it’s important for us to know where you plan to market your product at the beginning of the project so we can stay within regulatory restrictions for specific color sources or incidental ingredients.

Can you work with restricted ingredient lists?

We are very comfortable working with restricted ingredient lists. As retailer and brand restrictions and policies become more prevalent, these “no no lists” are increasingly influential in color development work. Knowing the end retailer is key to identifying the best color solution for a product.

Natural Color for Carbonated Soft Drinks

Developers tasked with clean label innovation or synthetic dye replacement projects in the beverage space have a broad rainbow to consider.

What colors would you recommend as a “starter pack” for a natural rainbow?

Frequently Asked Questions

What are natural food coloring alternatives for drinks?

How can I color beverages naturally?

What are safe natural drink colorants?

What are the best natural color additives for carbonated drinks?

Related Articles

Natural Color for Carbonated Soft Drinks

Developers tasked with clean label innovation or synthetic dye replacement projects in the beverage space have a broad rainbow to consider.

What colors would you recommend as a “starter pack” for a natural rainbow?

Frequently Asked Questions

What are natural food coloring alternatives for drinks?

How can I color beverages naturally?

What are safe natural drink colorants?

What are the best natural color additives for carbonated drinks?

Related Articles

Subscribe for the latest colorful insights!