Purple corn offers natural alternative to synthetic food dyes

12-Mar-2009 - Last updated on 12-Mar-2009 at 17:01 GMT

A company motivated by concerns about the safety of synthetic food dyes has come up with its own solution with a non-genetically modified (non-GMO) purple corn hybrid that yields natural red and yellow dyes.

Synthetic food colorings have been the cause of controversy in the US since the 1970s, when pediatrician Dr Feingold first found a link with children’s behavior. The issue rose to the fore again in 2007 when a British study, published in The Lancet, found a link between certain synthetic food colors and hyperactivity in children.

The Minnesota-based Suntava company was born when scientists investigating the insect resistant potential of non-GM red maize found that its hybrids could produce an abundant supply of natural red coloring. They realized that it could be used as a replacement for some of the controversial food dyes involved in the study, including Red 40, as well as some yellow food dyes.

Spokesperson for the company Norman Benedict told FoodNavigator-USA.com: “It came about as one of those defining ‘aha!’ moments…It took a product that is abundant in this part of the world and preserves everything else from it that can be used further down the food chain.”

Sustainability

Apart from concerns over safety of synthetic dyes, Benedict highlighted the sustainability of sourcing colors from the corn crop. He said the corn could also be used for corn chips and tacos, or for its starches and oils, even after the color had been extracted, although he could not say how the corn remains unaffected, saying that it is by “a proprietary method”.

“As opposed to production of other products like ethanol which takes all of the corn – which some have blamed for food shortages both domestically and globally – in this case that does not happen. You have a sustainable situation,” he said.

GMO-free demand

Although Suntava is still in the development stage, Benedict said that it is confident that it can already meet demand for its colorings, even for large orders. And he is confident that the demand exists. “There are a number of companies that have been using synthetics because they are easy to come by,” he said. “Companies are looking for a domestic alternative.”

However, the sourcing of large quantities of GMO-free corn could present problems for Suntava if its colorings really take off.

At the moment, he explained, the company closely monitors the farming groups that grow its corn in order to ensure the integrity of its GMO-free claim.

“A logistic difficulty ahead would be monitoring more acreage. But they have got their arms around these potential growth problems,” he said.

Benedict added that although the dye costs more by volume, it requires less in applications, so “overall cost would be about the same.”