Color does not have flavor, yet consumers associate certain flavors with colors. Consumers perceive that yellow goes with “lemon” and pink goes with “grapefruit.” Reversing the colors changes the perception.
Color additives reinforce the colors already present in the food and ensure uniformity of the food from season to season and batch to batch. They also add color to “virtually colorless foods.”
In beverages, brown is a strange color. It is not associated with any fruit or vegetable, except maybe overripe bananas or oxidized greens (coffee is a fruit, technically). Different flavors and types of beverages are associated with brown.
Because of the low pH of most carbonated beverages, caramel colors are commonly used because of their acid stability. In addition to providing excellent reddish to brown hues. The carbonated soft drinks industry has been using caramel color since the 19th century, and it is the most widely used colorant in the soft drink industry.
The use of colorings in soft drinks serves several important functions:
*Making the product more aesthetically appealing;
*Helping to correct for natural variations in color or for changes during processing or storage;
*Contributing to maintaining the qualities by which the drink is recognized.
In soft drink concentrates, caramel color has an emulsifying effect with flavor oils, and helps to eliminate the formation of certain types of “floc”. The light protective quality of caramel color also assists in preventing oxidation of the flavoring components in bottled beverages.
Food additive in soft drinks - Coloring
