Preparing Your Facility for a Natural Conversion
Natural Color Conversion is Coming
As state legislature and federal regulatory moves shake up the world of color, brands and manufacturers across North America are considering natural color conversion with a gravity not previously seen.
Mass conversion away from synthetic and toward natural colors in the next few years seems likely in the food and beverage industry.
A word of caution to those who hope to wait out the storm—natural conversion is not a simple or fast process. It takes time to find the right solutions, prepare your facilities, and secure your supply chain.
Are you prepared?
Because synthetic-to-natural conversion projects are multifaceted, preparation takes time. Sensient is here to help, from technical development to full commercial production considerations.
How to Prepare Your Facility and Process for Natural Colors:
#1: Storage
Synthetic colors can typically be stored without restrictions in manufacturing facilities.
Depending on the natural color, required storage may be ambient, refrigerated, or frozen. There are instances where storage conditions are dictated to control microbiological risk, but most storage conditions are driven by shelf life.
TIP: Increase or add refrigerated storage to your facility to extend the shelf life of your natural colors.
#2: Shelf Life
Typically, natural colors have shorter shelf lives than their synthetic counterparts.
Two potential strategies to improve shelf life are to freeze a liquid solution or to produce a powder. However, not every color or color system is suitable for those approaches. For instance, some colors are adversely impacted by freezing. Refrigerated storage can extend the shelf life of many natural colors.
#3: Usage Rates
In many cases, natural colors have less coloring strength than synthetic colors
Therefore, usage rates are often higher for natural colors in finished goods. Our technical team has extensive experience mitigating this use difference. One option is to control particle size to ensure consistency of the color, often resulting in a stronger color appearance. Sensient’s Agronomy team is working to improve the color load in botanical sources to further reduce usage rates in end applications.
#4: Order of Addition
Manufacturers looking to improve natural color success may consider changing their process to adjust the order of addition of the raw materials.
Because of potential sensitivity to factors like heat or pH, adding the color at a different part of the production process may significantly improve color stability.
TIP: Work with your color supplier past your initial benchwork through the commercial scale-up process for guidance on best practices and troubleshooting.
#5: Color Format
The format of the color solution can also be a significant choice.
Liquid color solutions are easier to incorporate into many manufacturing processes. On the other hand, powder colors typically have comparatively better stability and shelf life.
#6: Processing Sensitivity
Some natural colors may have more sensitivity to processing conditions than their synthetic counterparts.
Some of the most common factors impacting color success are pH, heat, and light. Technological advancements and optimized botanical development may lessen this impact depending on the color.
How can Sensient help prepare for a natural conversion?
Sensient is keeping a close eye on the market and is preparing for mass conversion demand. As you approach your own conversion projects, we can help by providing multiple solutions for your projects, allowing you to weigh the benefits of performance versus cost-in-use and make the best choice for your brand.
We also understand the importance of extended shelf life, but also that it is balanced for many manufacturers with the difficulty of adding refrigerated storage space to existing facilities. If you are willing to accept a reduced shelf life for certain colors, we may be able to provide unrefrigerated solutions to work with your space. Another option is to switch from a liquid that requires refrigeration to a powder that can be stored at ambient temperatures.
In short, our goal is to make the conversion process seamless for you and your team.
Reach out to your Sensient Account Manager or request a consultation to find out how we can help you.
