The FDA today (May 9) announced the approval of three new color additive petitions that will expand the palette of available colors from natural sources for manufacturers to safely use in food.
Approval of the three – galdieria extract blue, butterfly pea flower extract and calcium phosphate – was promised in the FDA’s April 22 press conference, in which the agency “asked” food & beverage processors to remove six petroleum-based dyes “by the end of next year.”
- Galdieria extract blue, a blue color derived from the unicellular red algae Galdieria sulphuraria, was approved for use in nonalcoholic beverages and beverage bases, fruit drinks, fruit smoothies, fruit juices, vegetable juices, dairy-based smoothies, milk shakes and flavored milks, yogurt drinks, milk-based meal replacement and nutritional beverages, breakfast cereal coatings, hard candy, soft candy and chewing gum, flavored frostings, ice cream and frozen dairy desserts, frozen fruits, water ices and popsicles, gelatin desserts, puddings and custards, and whipped cream, yogurt, frozen or liquid creamers (including non-dairy alternatives), and whipped toppings (including non-dairy alternatives). The petition was submitted by the French company Fermentalg.
- Butterfly pea flower extract is a blue color that can be used to achieve a range of shades including bright blues, intense purple, and natural greens. Produced through the water extraction of the dried flower petals of the butterfly pea plant, this color additive is already approved for use in sport drinks, fruit drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, alcoholic beverages, dairy drinks, ready to drink teas, nutritional beverages, gums, candy, coated nuts, ice creams, and yogurt. Today’s approval of a petition by St. Louis-based Sensient Colors expands the approved use for coloring ready-to-eat cereals, crackers, snack mixes, hard pretzels, plain potato chips (restructured or baked), plain corn chips, tortilla chips, and multigrain chips.
- Calcium phosphate is a white color approved for use in ready-to-eat chicken products, white candy melts, doughnut sugar and sugar for coated candies. The petition was filed by Innophos Inc. of Cranbury, N.J. Mining the two minerals is a prime source of calcium phosphate.
While lauding galdieria extract blue and butterfly pea flower extract as safe and natural colors, Julie Chapon, co-founder of food scanning app Yuka, which points out additives to consumers, questioned calcium phosphate.
“In contrast, calcium phosphate is not a good alternative,” she said. “It contains phosphorus, a mineral whose intake already exceeds recommendations, and excess phosphorus can disrupt bone mineralization, impair kidney function and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases."
At that April 22 news conference, the FDA said it was “working with industry to eliminate … Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 & 6 and Blue 1 & 2—from the food supply by the end of next year.” Red 3 already is slated for a ban beginning Jan. 15, 2027.
“Since the HHS and FDA announcement last month during a press conference … on petroleum-based food dyes, more U.S. food manufacturers have committed to removing them within the FDA’s set time frame of the end of next year,” the agency said. For our story on four -- PepsiCo, Tyson, Danone and TreeHouse -- that are doing so, click here.
For some suggestions on how else to replace banned or questionable color additives, see this story.
