IFT First 2025: Givaudan showcases natural color advancements
23 Jul 2025 | GIvaudan
We spoke with Katie Rountree, regional product manager at Givaudan Sense Colors, about how the company is replacing synthetic F&B colors with natural alternatives. We discussed recent legislative changes in the US, consumer trends, and the company’s upcoming launches.
OK, we're live at IT first.
I'm joined by Katie Rowntree from Give.
Can you tell us a bit about what you're exhibiting this year?
Sure, so we're focusing a lot on the natural alternatives to synthetics.
So obviously with changing regulations and just the movement in the industry, we're really excited to show several different demos of how we're able to do this successfully.
And what would you say are the major trends that you're seeing in the industry at the moment?
The move from synthetic colors, so moving away from things like red 40, yellow 5, blue 1, and then moving them to natural alternatives.
So for example, we have several different demos where we're showing a product that normally would require maybe yellow 6, but instead we're featuring our indoor paprika product in a snack.
We also have beverages that are featuring a Remaize orange red, which is a great replacement for Red 40.
Great.
And are you seeing changes in consumer demand within the US at the moment?
Yes, definitely, we are seeing a lot of different changes from the consumers and what they're wanting to see on their labels.
A lot of people are wanting to be able to recognize what's on their labels, and so seeing something like an amaze or a vegetable juice for color is something that people are going to be a little bit more familiar with and maybe feel a little bit more comfortable with at this point.
And there are a lot of regulatory changes going on at the moment, particularly in regard to synthetic colors.
Is that helping things?
That is definitely, there's definitely an increase in demand for this right now.
The regulations are just.
Kind of more focused on a state level at this point, but we do have that statement that was put out by the HHS that we're wanting to move more to natural colors rather than synthetic colors.
And so while no regulations have been put in nationally other than the red 3 ban, we can definitely tell that this trend is moving and it's something that's just going to keep growing and gaining momentum.
What would you say are the major challenges that you now face moving forward and how are you going to deal with them?
I think one of the key things is that people are so.
Used to synthetic colors being able to be a kind of plug and play situation with natural colors, there's so many different caveats to take into consideration, such as pH, what application, the stability of the product that you're looking for, packaging.
So it really requires a lot of technical expertise and luckily we have a team here that's really great at providing that input and providing that guidance to make sure that you have a stable and natural solution for that synthetic replacement.
Great.
And then what should consumers and customers look out for from Givedown over the next year?
So specifically around colors in terms of innovations, we have the new Galderia blue extract that was just approved by the FDA, so you can expect to see that launch coming next year.
We also have some different stabilized products in our indoor line.
So for example, our indoor paprika is a really great answer to that yellow 6 replacement for snacks.
And then we also have our Amaze orange red, which is a fantastic alternative to Red 40, and that was a product that we featured at last year's IFT and we're excited to continue to promote it and show the flexibility that that product can provide.
