Natural Food colors are derived from plants, insects, and, historically, even minerals. Plant colorings approved by the U.S. FDA include ANNATTO, BETA-CAROTENE, PAPRIKA, SAFFRON, and TURMERIC. Their colors range from yellow to red. Caramel and roasted cottonseed flour create brown colors. Powdered algae, yellow corn oil, and tagetes (Aztec marigold) are added to chicken feed to yellow chicken skin and augment the color of egg yolk. Fruit JUICES and vegetable juices can be used to color foods. As examples, grape extract can be used to create purple-red foods, dehydrated beets contribute a dark red, while carrot oil and a related plant pigment CANTHAXANTHINE create orange-colored foods. Insect pigments appear rarely. Carmine comprises 10 percent of the extract of cochineal insects; about 2,000 pounds are used annually in the United States.
Certain inorganic compounds are approved by the U.S. FDA as coloring agents. Ferrous gluconate develops a black color in ripe OLIVES, and titanium oxide can be used up to 1 percent in foods as a whitener. Sodium NITRITE contributes pink color to processed meats like HOT DOGS and HAM and processed meat products, but it is considered a preservative. Only about 5 percent of food coloring currently being used is derived from natural products. The rest represents artificial dyes, synthesized from petroleum products. Careful studies (lasting more than a year) have not been carried out on most of these plant-derived coloring agents. While there is no evidence so far that they are in any way harmful, the question of their long-term safety remains unanswered.
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