Sensient Colors Announces Breakthrough Purification Technologies That Achieve More Vibrant Natural Colour Shades

02 Dec 2014 --- Sensient Colors, a division of Sensient Technologies, has announced it is introducing a new line of natural colours under the Pure-S brand. These innovative new natural colourants open up the possibility of employing some of the most vibrant botanical shades nature has to offer.

Previously, the use of natural colour derived from sources such as red radish, red cabbage, and paprika was limited in most food and beverage applications. Despite the attractive colour shades attainable with these extracts, their viability was limited due to undesirable flavour and odour off-notes. As a result, food brands have either settled for less appealing colour shades or postponed plans to transition formulations from synthetic to natural.

After two years of work, a global team of Sensient scientists from R&D centers in Germany, Italy and the US has developed a unique set of new technologies to purify a range of natural colour extracts from botanical sources. Sensient’s new Pure-S Naturals are an important development for food brands that want to achieve vivid colour shades without the use of synthetic colours or non-Kosher natural options.

“These technical breakthroughs in natural colour purification open up a wide range of possibilities for the food industry. Pure-S Strawberry Antho, for example, offers a bright strawberry red shade that can be used as a replacement for carmine or as an alternative to Allura Red,” explained Dr. Roland Beck, Managing Director of Sensient Food Colors Europe.

“Natural food colours have always presented a complex set of challenges for product developers and a few years ago we launched an R&D initiative to eliminate the performance and cost gap between synthetic and naturally derived colours. I am very proud that three of our leading global R&D centers, working collaboratively, were able to achieve an important milestone towards reaching that goal.” stated Michael Geraghty, President of Sensient Colors 

The new Pure-S colour range is ideal for use in many food applications, notably for the confection and beverage markets.