How to avoid the loss of properties of colors and pigments?

The use of colors and pigments is a very widespread practice in the food or cosmetic industry to make products more attractive or to enhance some of their own characteristics.

The use of colors and pigments in the food and cosmetic industry

Dyes have been used since ancient times, mainly with products existing in nature itself. But with the appearance of the production industry of food or cosmetics for human consumption, products originating from the chemical industry began to be used, that is, synthetic colors and pigments. Fortunately for consumers, the trend in the use of colorants is to return to products of natural origin.

However, one of the main problems with colorants is the loss of color and flavor due to oxidation caused by the presence of air, light or high temperatures.

Natural antioxidants to delay oxidation

Thanks to natural antioxidants such as TOCOBIOL^®, the oxidation process can be slowed down without the need to introduce synthetic antioxidants into food or personal care products, which are increasingly limited due to their toxicity and progressive disuse, such as TBHQ (E 319), BHA (E 320) or BHT (E 321).

At BTSA, from our R&D laboratory we are constantly developing new natural products for our clients in various fields, and manufacturers of colors and pigments increasingly require natural antioxidant solutions to protect their products from the loss of their properties.

In our laboratory we have the ability to perform accelerated oxidation tests in different methods, such as the SCHAAL, RANCIMAT^® or RAPIDOXY^® methods.

These methods accelerate the oxidation processes of the samples, and by measuring certain control parameters it is possible to determine when a sample has oxidized, and thus be able to make comparisons with samples stabilized with different antioxidants at different concentrations.

The efficacy of BTSA’s natural antioxidant TOCOBIOL

Here we present the results of an oxidation study carried out on red paprika, a natural color used in many food products. We can see how TOCOBIOL^® exerts a very positive action in maintaining the quality of the product, counteracting the action of degradative factors and maintaining a better preservation of the coloring and nutritional properties of the product.

Image 1 shows the comparison of how the red paprika gradually loses its original color, turning brown due to the action of accelerated oxidation in a controlled environment.

The sample on the left has been treated with TOCOBIOL^®, a natural antioxidant developed exclusively by BTSA, while the sample on the right has no protection, so it has lost its original color and acquired a rancid taste.

Tests like this show that a natural antioxidant such as TOCOBIOL^® not only has proven efficacy, but that its greater thermal stability makes it an ideal product for the food and cosmetic industry.