Givaudan Sense Colour taps microalgae, anthocyanins and beetroot for natural plant-based food hues

17 Apr 2024 --- Givaudan Sense Colour is rolling out a series of new natural color solutions in line with market demands, including a phycocyanin-rich natural blue hue similar to spirulina, its Endure Red Beet, which can be a suitable replacement for carmine and a range of anthocyanins.

We caught up with the company at its UK-based R&D center in Burton upon Trent recently to examine the new colors coming to market and the firm’s focus on plant-based coloring foods that offer natural appeal, as well as boosting its capabilities for clean ingredients that adhere to food labeling legislations.

During a tour of the facilities, Andrew Kendrick, R&D manager and Nicola Landsborough, site manager, discussed bringing this latest string of color innovations to life.

True blue from volcanic hot springs
Givaudan Sense Colours’ Everzure Galdieria is a phycocyanin-rich natural blue color, similar to spirulina. It is created via fermentation followed by simple water extraction from the microalgae Galdieria sulphuraria. 

Everzure Galdieria is a newly developed source of acid-stable phycocyanin, obtained from the bioculture of an extremophile microalga. According to the company, this breakthrough can allow “glistening blues in low pH drinks and confections.” 

“Derived from algae grown in volcanic hot springs, the phycocyanin pigment is adapted to live in those extreme environments, so it is more acid-stable than equivalent products on the marketplace,” Kendrick tells us. 

Endure Red Beet provides a rich red color, suitable for red velvet cake applications.“Previously, the current option of spirulina would not be suitable to work in a beverage or some acidic aspects of confectionery, [but this new solution] will work very nicely.”

It also has good heat and light stability, allowing for flexibility with processing and packaging, he details, adding that the molecule inside it can provide shades from pastel blues to vibrant deep blues for applications such as ice cream.

“Currently, our Galdieria sulphuraria is going through regulatory approvals in Europe and America, so it will soon be available in some of those markets.”

Bake-stable beetroot coloring as carmine replacer
The company has also recently unveiled its Endure Red Beet coloring, which is a “bake stable beetroot coloring,” notes Kendrick.

Beetroot’s deep purple color comes from plant chemicals called betalains, not anthocyanins, he explains. It can be a simple label alternative to Red #40 or Allura Red in cake applications such as red velvet cakes and offers “extra heat stability and better shade control” compared to standard beet.

“It is a solution that will work in things like red velvet cakes or similar applications as a carmine replacer,” details Kendrick.

Carmine has previously come under scrutiny for being used in the F&B space. However, when Kendrick started on his food coloring path, “carmine was the go-to red color because it works in every food application area.”

However, now, when “we look back at all the projects and analysis we’ve done, it’s all been about carmine replacement,” he underscores. 

“Having said that, when you start looking at some products that went carmine-free, carmine is creeping back into a few of them. It might be that the non-carmine color is not as vibrant, or there might be production problems,” outlines Kendrick. 

He further points to the reason behind the demand for carmine alternatives — carmine is “not halal or kosher; it’s chemically modified and if used, it cannot carry a plant-based or vegan claim.” 

“When we start developing colors and formulation, we always send a sample of carmine, as long as it fits within their criteria, as well as the alternative to our customer. It’s always good to see if it works better in a process, whether it’s enhanced vibrancy or stability a client is looking for.”According to Landsborough, the company has “a strong pipeline of future innovations.”

Endure Red Beet is part of an improvement on existing formulations and also part of our red science and technology innovation program, Kendrick adds.

Pigments from plants
Another area of food colors that the company is working on are “new sources of anthocyanins.” 

Anthocyanins are blue, red, or purple pigments found in plants, especially flowers, fruits, and tubers. In acidic conditions, anthocyanin appears as a red pigment, while blue pigment anthocyanin exists in alkaline conditions.

“We have an orange-red corn anthocyanin, which is US-sourced. We have complete control of our supply chain so we’re fully integrated. It’s non-GM but we develop the strain completely,” explains Kendrick.

And as it’s based on corn, the company could grow in multiple regions if required. 

“It has the same reddish shade as radish, which is one of the bright red anthocyanins,” he continues. But a lot of the formulations do come with a radish taste, which is undesirable.”

With this solution, you get a color that is similar to a radish shade but without the taste. And then, if you use it in confectionery, you get a nice pinky peach-type shade. So these innovations are all coming to market very soon,” Kendrick says. 

Co-creating the right colors
Commenting on what colors are most appealing in the food and beverage spaces, Landsborough observes that red and yellow applications are “the two most dynamic spaces.”

“Those are the colors we sell more of,” she details. “There are fewer requests for greens and blues, although there is a lot of innovation coming from those natural colors.”

Meanwhile, Kendrick notes that Givaudan Sense Colour is “doing lots of customer work at the moment, customer projects and co-creation sessions.”

These types of sessions can be beneficial to both businesses. “Our clients can bring in their base, we’ve got the colors to sample and we can have a session here at our site, which means we are so much further down the development track, rather than sending samples back and forth,” explains Kendrick. 

“It’s reassuring for our clients to be part of the processes and sometimes it means the recipes of formulations can go off in different directions. In our labs on site, we can change and adapt quite easily as we have access to our full range of colors.”

The company’s UK-based R&D center in Burton upon Trent.Future innovation pipeline
According to Landsborough, the company has “a strong pipeline of future innovations.”

Givaudan Sense Colour continuously works within its UK-based teams and for the global markets, she tells us. “We do a lot of alignment work with major customers as well to make sure we are doing the right thing in terms of ingredient formulation.”

“One of the innovation scientists is based here [in the UK]. So we’re very close to a factory where innovation is going to be implemented. It’s not too academic, but it’s very much integrated into our production systems,” Landsborough summarizes.

Food Ingredients First also recently spoke with Catalina Ospina, technical marketing specialist at Givaudan Sense Colour, about biotechnology opening the door to explore novel pigment sources and optimizing manufacturing methods. You can read more on this in our Special Report. 

By Elizabeth Green, reporting from Givaudan Sense Colour center in Burton upon Trent, UK