Interviews: Cai Xingru, Huang Xinpei, Huang Jingxiang|Written by: Huang Xinpei Nowadays, from traditional foods such as dried tofu and candied fruit, to desserts and beverages, the existence of pigments cannot be avoided. However, with the rise of consumers' health awareness, more and more people hope that daily food can ask for as few additives as possible, but Have you thought about it? When snacks, cakes, and beverages lose the color we recognize, but only have the primary color of the ingredients, will your desire to eat them decrease? Most consumers pay attention to the completeness of color, aroma and taste when purchasing food. Before the smell and taste, the "color" printed on the eyes is the first impression of the food. Therefore, in order to stimulate consumers' desire to buy, many manufacturers, Additional artificial or natural colourings may be added to change the colour of the food and make it more attractive. But in addition to aesthetics,
adding pigments actually has other functions that you didn't expect. Why do foods need to be dyed? Isn't the natural primary color bad? "If you walked into the store today and found that the macarons had no color, what would you think?" Xu Tingzhen, an adjunct associate professor at the Institute of Food Science and Technology of National Taiwan University, believes that in order to meet the expectations and needs of consumers, the industry will inevitably add pigments . wedding photo retouching services In addition, pigments are not just for changing the color. Different pigments are added to different foods and have different functions, including: 1. Beautify the color of food: change and improve the color of food to increase the value of goods. 2. Maintain the color of food: In the process of processing and preservation, some ingredients will be affected by factors such as high temperature, light, air, pH and other factors, which will cause the natural color to fade or change. Zhou Zhihui, Honorary Distinguished Professor of the Department of Food and Applied Biotechnology of Chung Hsing University, for example,
said that the color of green matcha powder will become dull after baking at high temperature. Therefore, by adding pigments, the color can be closer to the "matcha green" that consumers perceive. At present, the most commonly used pigments to adjust the color of matcha food are "Yellow No. 4 + Blue No. 1" or "Gardenia Blue + Saffron". 3. Product standardization: In order to make the color of the product uniform, adding pigments can make it standardized. For example, Xu Tingzhen said that some soy sauces have different colors in each batch. By adding caramel coloring, the color can be adjusted to the same color. 4. Increase the nutritional value of food: some natural pigments