Latest news with #Fermentalg
The Sun
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
US FDA permits use of three natural-source colors in food items
THE US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it had granted permissions to three new color additives, marking them as safe to use in food products and expanding the range of natural-source colors available to manufacturers. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said last month that the agency plans to remove synthetic food dyes from the US food supply by revoking the authorizations of some and working with the industry to voluntarily remove others. 'For too long, our food system has relied on synthetic, petroleum-based dyes that offer no nutritional value and pose unnecessary health risks,' Kennedy had said in a statement. The health regulator approved Galdieria extract blue - a blue color derived from the unicellular red algae Galdieria sulphuraria - for use in non-alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, candy, breakfast cereal coatings, ice cream and frozen dairy desserts, among others. The petition was submitted by the French company Fermentalg. It also approved butterfly pea flower extract, a blue color that is produced through the water extraction of the plant's dried flower petals. This helps achieve a range of shades that include bright blues, intense purple and natural greens and is already approved for use in fruit and vegetable juices, alcoholic beverages and ready-to-drink tea. Friday's approval expands its use for coloring ready-to-eat cereal, crackers, snack mixes and some chips. The FDA also approved calcium phosphate, which imparts a white color, for use in ready-to-eat chicken products, white candy melts, doughnut sugar and sugar for coated candy.
The Sun
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
FDA approves three new natural food color additives
THE US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it had granted permissions to three new color additives, marking them as safe to use in food products and expanding the range of natural-source colors available to manufacturers. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said last month that the agency plans to remove synthetic food dyes from the US food supply by revoking the authorizations of some and working with the industry to voluntarily remove others. 'For too long, our food system has relied on synthetic, petroleum-based dyes that offer no nutritional value and pose unnecessary health risks,' Kennedy had said in a statement. The health regulator approved Galdieria extract blue - a blue color derived from the unicellular red algae Galdieria sulphuraria - for use in non-alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, candy, breakfast cereal coatings, ice cream and frozen dairy desserts, among others. The petition was submitted by the French company Fermentalg. It also approved butterfly pea flower extract, a blue color that is produced through the water extraction of the plant's dried flower petals. This helps achieve a range of shades that include bright blues, intense purple and natural greens and is already approved for use in fruit and vegetable juices, alcoholic beverages and ready-to-drink tea. Friday's approval expands its use for coloring ready-to-eat cereal, crackers, snack mixes and some chips. The FDA also approved calcium phosphate, which imparts a white color, for use in ready-to-eat chicken products, white candy melts, doughnut sugar and sugar for coated candy.
NBC News
09-05-2025
- Health
- NBC News
FDA will allow new color additives made from minerals, algae and flower petals
U.S. regulators said Friday that they would allow three new color additives made from natural sources to be used in the nation's food supply. It comes after health officials pledged a sweeping phase-out of petroleum-based dyes widely used in foods from cereals to sports drinks to boost health — though action is still pending. The Food and Drug Administration said it is granting petitions to allow galdieria extract blue, a blue color derived from algae; calcium phosphate, a white color derived from a naturally occurring mineral; and butterfly pea flower extract, a blue color made from dried flower petals. The colors will be approved for use in a range of foods from fruit drinks and yogurt to pretzels, ready-to-eat chicken and candies. The move 'will expand the palette of available colors from natural sources for manufacturers to safely use in food,' FDA officials said in a statement. Health advocates have long called for the removal of artificial dyes from foods, citing mixed studies indicating the dyes can cause neurobehavioral problems for some children, including hyperactivity and attention issues. The FDA has maintained for decades that the approved dyes are safe and that 'the totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives.' The new color approvals include a 2021 petition from the French company Fermentalg to allow galdieria extract blue; a 2023 petition from Innophos Inc. of Cranbury, New Jersey, to allow calcium phosphate; and a 2024 petition from Sensient Colors LLC of St. Louis, Missouri, to allow butterfly pea flower extract. The approvals are set to be published in the federal register on May 12 and would take effect in June. In April, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced that they would take steps to eliminate synthetic food dyes in the U.S. food supply by the end of 2026, largely through voluntary efforts from the food industry. The officials also said they would revoke authorization for two little-used artificial dyes, Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B, and accelerate the timeline to remove Red 3, a food color banned in January because of a link to cancer in laboratory rats. The FDA plans to initiate the process to revoke those colors 'within the coming months,' a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
After push to remove artificial coloring, FDA approves 3 natural food dyes
Sign up for CNN's Eat, But Better: Mediterranean Style. Our eight-part guide shows you a delicious expert-backed eating lifestyle that will boost your health for life. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved three new color additives from natural sources 'that will expand the palette of available colors from natural sources for manufacturers to safely use in food,' the agency said in a news release. The three dyes are Galdieria extract blue, butterfly pea flower extract and calcium phosphate. US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made phasing out petroleum-based dyes in the nation's food supply one of the priorities in his broader initiative to 'Make America Healthy Again.' Artificial food dyes are facing new restrictions or bans at both the federal level and in more than half the states. In April, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary announced the agency would work with the industry to remove and replace the dyes, though the FDA largely hasn't yet made this a requirement for industry. 'For too long, our food system has relied on synthetic, petroleum-based dyes that offer no nutritional value and pose unnecessary health risks,' Kennedy said in a news release. 'We're removing these dyes and approving safe, natural alternatives — to protect families and support healthier choices.' Galdieria extract blue derives from Galdieria sulphuraria, a type of red algae that carries a water-soluble blue pigment known as C-Phycocyanin and is found in acidic volcanic hot springs and calderas, according to the FDA and Fermentalg, a French chemical company using micro-algae for colorants, foods and supplements. Fermentalg sought approval for the additive for foods and beverages via a petition it submitted to the FDA in 2021 and has patented a Galdieria sulphuraria extract under the name Everzure. Galdieria sulphuraria's natural ability to reside in acidic environments lends to its stability in food and beverages, which is something food and beverage manufacturers have been concerned about in the shift to natural alternatives to highly stable artificial dyes. Butterfly pea extract is a blue color from which manufacturers can create a range of shades including bright blues, intense purples and natural greens, according to the FDA. It's produced from the water extraction of the dried flower petals of the butterfly pea plant, and is already approved for some uses, including sports drinks, fruit drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, alcoholic beverages, candy and ice creams. Its use is now expanded to also include ready-to-eat cereals, crackers, snack mixes, hard pretzels, plain potato chips, plain corn chips, tortilla chips and multigrain chips, the FDA said. The petition that raised this extract for consideration was submitted in February 2024 by the St. Louis-based Sensient Colors, one of the largest global dye-makers. Calcium phosphate, a mineral compound containing both calcium and phosphorus, provides a white color newly approved for use in ready-to-eat chicken products, white candy melts, doughnut sugar and sugar for coated candies, according to the FDA, whose decision approves a 2023 petition filed by New Jersey-based Innophos Inc., a mineral solutions company. 'The FDA determines whether an additive is safe to use by considering the projected human dietary exposure to the color additive, the additive's toxicological data, and other relevant information, such as published literature,' the agency stated in a news release. The embrace of natural dyes is due to health concerns around artificial colorants, such as increased risk of cancer and neurobehavioral issues. While some manufacturers acknowledge these concerns, they have also highlighted the challenges involved in an industrywide shift to alternative dyes, which is likely due to both state-level bans and the FDA's requirement that food companies remove red dye No. 3 — banned in January — from foods by January 15, 2027. 'Natural colors can be more expensive from a cost-in-use perspective depending on the raw ingredient being used,' Amy Agallar, vice president of investor relations and treasurer at Sensient, said via email May 2. 'The raw ingredients can vary due to many factors such as availability, time to harvest and color availability from the raw material. The natural color needed to replace a synthetic color can be ten times that of a synthetic product.' That discrepancy is partly due to some food and beverage products requiring heat processing or acids that affect the stability of natural colors, Agallar added. 'Some natural colors are also not very light stable and this may be needed in the end application.' Additionally, 'studies show that customers prefer products with color and are more likely to purchase food and beverages with a color that matches the expected flavor,' Agallar said. 'Consumers use the color to identify how a product will taste. Food manufacturers currently use natural color products in about 80% of new colored food and beverages released in the US each year.' There's little funding for research on artificial food dyes, and even less for the study of emerging alternatives — so it's not yet known whether these new natural dyes could have any effect on human health. But with most natural dyes coming from plants and being used in small quantities, 'it's hard to believe they'd have any effect' on the general population, Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, told CNN in a previous story. Sensient has developed its own safety program, Certasure, Agallar said. 'This program ensures that our natural colors are free of pesticides, heavy metals, microbiological contamination, adulteration, and unauthorized solvents.'
Axios
09-05-2025
- Health
- Axios
FDA approves 3 color additives as part of RFK Jr. dye ban effort
The FDA on Friday approved three natural color additives, in its first regulatory action since HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a bid to eliminate synthetic dyes from the food supply. Why it matters: Officials said more food manufacturers are voluntarily committing to removing petroleum-based dyes over Kennedy's two-year time frame, even as food and industry experts question the necessity of alternatives. The big picture: Last month, Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced what they termed "an understanding" with food makers to remove eight common artificial dyes from their products. Kennedy and other officials argue that research into the health effects of these ingredients has been largely stifled, and point to increasing rates of childhood illnesses like obesity, diabetes and ADHD as justification for substituting natural ingredients. Details: The newly approved dyes include two different colors of blue and a white. One blue colorant from the French company Fermentalg, is derived from an algae and was approved for use in nonalcoholic beverages and beverage bases, breakfast cereals, hard candy and other products. A second dye made from butterfly pea flower extract and submitted by St. Louis-based Sensient Colors already used to achieve bright colors in sport drinks and alcoholic beverages was approved for expanded use in ready-to-eat cereals, crackers, snack mixes and chips. A white color made from calcium phosphate made by New Jersey-based Innophos Inc. was approved for use in ready-to-eat chicken products, white candy melts, doughnut sugar, and sugar for coated candies. Yes, but: Experts have warned against the fallacy that chemicals or compounds with hard to pronounce names are by definition "bad" while natural ingredients are necessarily "healthy."
