Colors of the Rainbow – All Possible with Algae

New research explores natural colorants obtainable from algae. Algae derived colorants are ideal replacements of artificial colorants used in food and beverages.

Artificial food colorants are increasingly associated with a number of health issues, such as cancer, ADHD and neurological diseases. As a result, the market is growing for substitutes from edible natural sources. FeyeCon, together with partners Wageningen University and Algae Biotech, have been granted a four year subsidy project aimed at isolating colorants from algae by Agentschap NL (formerly SenterNovem).

Typically, natural colorants are extracted from vegetables and fruits, however this competes with food supplies. An interesting new sources of natural food colorants is algae, particularly since they are cultivated on land unsuitable for conventional crops. Algae offer a wide spectrum of natural colors (green, yellow, red and blue) in high concentrations.

The project will investigate the production and exploitation of natural food colorants, as well as pursue degradation prevention methods during processing, storage and in the end products; the goal therewith being to maintain both color intensity and anti-oxidant activity over time.