Tech firms look for natural food colours

The French company Fermentalg has traveled all over the planet in search of beneficial microalgae.

“For example, one of our lucky scientists got to climb volcanoes in the Caribbean, and I have to stop myself from collecting more every time I return home to New Zealand,” says Hywel Griffiths, chief scientist at Fermentalg.

There are hundreds of thousands of species of microalgae – microscopic organisms that live primarily in water. They are essential to the aquatic food chain and also produce half of the oxygen we breathe.

Some of them are already used commercially to make food, animal feed and fertilizers.

But for Fermantalg, one particular species, Galdieria ulfuraria, has a very beneficial property. It can be used to produce an edible pigment called Galdieria blue.

“We grow algae and produce it in large quantities under conditions that produce a lot of this particular molecule, the blue color,” Mr Griffiths says.

The pigment can be used to make any food or drink product and Mr Griffiths expects the first products using Galdieiria blue to hit shelves early next year.

FAQ blue was approved US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May along with butterfly pea flower extract (also blue) and calcium phosphate (white).

The FDA has also approved Gardenia blue earlier this month.

New sources of food coloring are needed as artificial food colors are being phased out.

In January FDA announced ban of red dye No. 3 in food products.

Additionally, the FDA plans to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes such as Yellow Dye 5 and 6 by the end of next year as part of the government's “Make America Healthy Again” mission.

“Over the past 50 years, American children have increasingly lived in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals,” FDA Commissioner Marty Macari said at a news conference in April.

While not a complete ban, the FDA hopes the food industry will voluntarily agree to eliminate artificial food colors by 2026.

It comes after years of pressure from parents and campaigners on the FDA to withdraw approval of the dyes or educate consumers more about the risks.

Recently, many US states have taken their own steps to pass laws to eliminate artificial food colors.

Countries vary in the restrictions they have. Historically, the UK and European Union have been stricter than the US.

The EU is gradually closing down its activities artificial colors over the past 20 years, and the introduction of food warnings with other colors.

So, these are good times for companies developing natural alternatives.

The American company Sensient creates natural colors using raw materials grown specifically to produce this color. For example, some reds and purples come from carrots and potatoes.

“These crops are harvested, washed, processed into juice, and the dye is extracted with water or other solvents,” says Paul Manning, CEO of Sensient.

“The resulting color is further processed to stabilize the concentrate and bring it to the specific shade desired by the client.”

But the hard work will be trying to match the synthetic color. “It has to be equally bright,” Mr. Manning says.

“There are many examples of brands moving to natural colors with less vibrant and vibrant hues when the product is performing poorly in the market and customers are complaining about both the color and taste.”

Achieving a consistent, vibrant color also required a lot of work from Fermantalg.

“To our surprise, we found that the algae cultivation process and the color extraction process can actually have quite a significant impact on the final stability of the product, even though it is quite highly purified,” Griffiths says.

“But what we do early on influences how sustainable it will be in the end.”

Will these new colors cost more?

“They're more expensive, but they don't really contribute that much to the end product because those things are used in the end product in fractions of a percentage,” Mr Griffiths says.

“If you've had a nosebleed and you've been standing over the sink… you know a little color goes a long way.”

For brands that have long relied on artificial colors, this is a real upheaval.

“We are reviewing the composition of our cereals served in schools to eliminate FD&C colors by the 2026-27 school year,” says a spokesperson for WK Kellogg, the company behind Kellogg's.

FD&C refers to certain certified synthetic color additives regulated by the FDA and approved by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Last year, protesters gathered outside the company's headquarters in Michigan, calling on it to remove artificial colors from cereals such as Froot Loops.

“Beginning in January 2026, we will not be releasing any new products in FD&C colors,” the spokesperson said.

This year, food industry giants such as Nestle, Kraft Heinz, General Mills and Conagra have promised phase out artificial food colors.

One problem for food brands using artificial colors is that many natural food colors don't necessarily have a long shelf life, says food scientist René Leber at the Institute of Food Technologists.

“Whereas synthetic dyes will outlast the shelf life of almost any product.”

She also says that with many brands rushing to switch to new products, this will lead to a “bottleneck” in production.

“We don't necessarily have all these colors. But we have 10 months to get it right.”

Given that this is not a complete ban, is it still expected to lead to radical changes in the US food industry?

“If you're a cereal manufacturer and you have brightly colored cereals and all your competitors are switching from synthetics to natural dyes, you don't necessarily want to be last,” Ms. Leber says.

“These are tight deadlines, but companies are doing their best to meet them.”