As already mentioned, food coloring is a type of additive that provides color to food. Currently, the food industry uses food coloring to change consumers’ preferences, as color is one of the main attributes to prefer a specific food. In addition, natural coloring is usually an option, partly due to consumers’ concern regarding artificial coloring.
For this reason, given the wide variety of food products that need to be colored to improve its visual appearance or to standardize the color of the final product, a variety of natural coloring has been developed for this purpose.
Specifically, for meat products, the red color added to sausages and lunch meats (natural coloring is most often used in these products) is used to enhance the natural red color of poultry products, as well as condiments that are usually used in daily cooking.
Cochineal’s carmine is one of the most viable options to obtain the desired appearance. For example, Carmine Laca provides a shade between red and pink, depending on the product, coloring process and amount used. This can be used in meat or lunch meats.
Water-Soluble Carmine provides a shade between violet and red to the final product. This also depends on the type of product, process and amount used. We recommend its use in meats that require a bright red appearance.
Liquid Carmine also provides a shade between violet and red to the final product, depending on the type of product, process and amount used. We also recommend its use in meat and lunch meats.
These are the three types of Carmine that are commonly used in meat products and which may be used in the production of lunch meats and sausages. Paprika is another option, which, due to its color, has the possibility of resembling the color of meat. It could be used in condiments that replace animal protein.
At IMBAREX, all options have been formulated for different types of lunch meats depending on whether the product is going to be subjected to cooking temperature, if it is going to be emulsified, or if it is going to be a lunch meat made of fresh meat mixed with spices and additives.
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