ABSTRACT
There are about 6000 additives available to the food industry, with more than half of these being flavors, both natural and synthetic; the rem ainder includes colors, preservatives, antioxidants, emulsifiers, thickeners, acids, bases, anticaking agents, flavor enhancers, glazing agents, improvers, bleaching agents, sweeteners, solvents, and a miscellaneous category (Mill stone, 1984). O f these, color has always played a vitally im portant role in food selection and acceptance. Colorants are added to foods to make up for color that may be lost during processing, to color products that are colorless themselves but are made more appealing to the consum er when color is added (e.g., an orange-flavored beverage), to allow consumers to identify what taste to expect from a product (e.g., licorice or lime sweets), and to protect sensitive flavors from light. The colorants added to foods must be proven safe, stable, legally perm itted, and effective in the particu lar application.
