LycoRed Develops New Applications for Lycopene as Color Replacement for Carmine

24 June 2013 --- LycoRed Ltd. has developed new formulations of vegetarian red colorants as part of its Tomat-O-Red line of tomato lycopene color to be used in various food and beverage applications. The new formulations provide deeper red lycopene color with blue backgrounds, similar to the shades from carmine.

This makes them a natural solution for food manufacturers who want to replace the insect-derived cochineal extract in their formulations. LycoRed will showcase the new lycopene color line at the IFT show, July 13-16, Chicago, booth No. 3167.

“The increased demand from customers seeking to replace carmine encouraged us to extend our natural red colorants line and develop new formulations suitable for additional food applications, such as confectionary, dairy and beverages,” says Roee Nir, Global Commercial Manager of Color for LycoRed. “By adding more formulations, we can provide food and beverage developers with a variety of options, so they can, in turn, expand product offerings to their customers. Moreover, all of our natural food colorants are sustainable and produced in an ecofriendly process, ensuring our customers always receive the highest quality in the marketplace.”

The new Tomat-O-Red lycopene colorant formulations are available in liquid forms, are vegetarian and free from any allergenic components, as listed in the EU’s Directive 2007/68/EC and those identified in the USA’s Food Allergen Labelling and Consumer Protection Act of August 2, 2004.

“The advantage of these new formulations is their high stability across a wide range of pH levels, light conditions, high temperatures and also in the presence of vitamin C,” adds Nir. “The drive to replace carmine is so intense, we had to develop natural color solutions for a wide range of applications in a short period. Our researchers developed color solutions that effectively match carmine shades and characteristics, while demonstrating the high stability parameters formulators seek.”

According to the latest report from Innova Market Insights on natural colors, the strong growth from 2008 to 2012 of global product launches utilizing natural colors demonstrates the influence of various trends, such as natural and clean label. These factors, along with consumer demand, have fuelled the natural colorant trend.