From a customer need to a new generation of natural colour
Every successful product development project starts with a clear market need. For Plant-Ex, this project began with a specific request from customers: a Safflower-derived natural yellow food colouring that was completely free from E-numbers and 100% soluble in oil.
At the same time, we were seeing strong demand for E-number-free natural colour solutions across the food industry, particularly for applications such as Ruby Red.
We saw an opportunity to go beyond the conventional approach.
Our objective was not simply to improve an existing colour. We wanted to develop something genuinely different: an oil-soluble natural yellow food colouring that could deliver strong colour performance while meeting the formulation and application requirements of food manufacturers.
The challenge: making a natural pigment completely soluble in oil
Developing natural food colouring comes with several challenges. Natural pigments can behave differently depending on the formulation, processing conditions and application. Achieving the right balance between colour strength, stability, solubility and consistency can require extensive development work.
With conventional approaches, the pigment can be dispersed and milled into oil. However, this does not always provide the level of brightness or complete pigment solubility in the oil phase that we were looking for.
The real challenge was to create the right environment in which the pigment could remain stable, stay active and become completely soluble in the oil phase.
One of the most challenging aspects was finding the right HLB balance between the emulsifiers. Once both water and oil phases are involved, achieving the correct balance becomes significantly more complex.
βThe HLB balance was one of the most critical parts of the development. Small changes in the formulation could have a significant effect on the final performance, so we had to carefully understand how the different components were interacting.ββ Okan Gonen, Natural Colour Specialist at Plant-Ex.
8β9 months of R&D, testing and refinement
Developing the solution required approximately 8β9 months of intensive R&D.
Some formulations simply did not work. In some cases, the colour performance was not where we wanted it to be; in others, the system lacked the required stability.
Each trial gave us more information about how the Safflower pigment was behaving and what needed to change.
We carefully controlled several variables throughout the process, including:
- Temperature of the water and oil phases
- HLB balance between emulsifiers
- High-shear mixing speed
- Formulation composition
- Colour performance
- Stability
The process was highly iterative. We tested, analysed the results, adjusted the formulation and tested again.
From laboratory trials to a real food application
Each trial helped us understand the system better and refine the formulation and process conditions. Our first major goal was to achieve 100% dissolution in oil.
Once we achieved this, we moved to an important real-world application test: white chocolate.
The pigment performed as expected, confirming that we had developed more than a laboratory formulation β we had created a practical solution for an oil-based food application.
βThe white chocolate trial was an important milestone,β notes our Natural Colour Specialist, Okan Gonen. βIt showed us that the formulation could deliver the performance we had achieved in the laboratory in a real food application.β
Ensuring consistent colour performance
Achieving oil solubility was only part of the challenge. We also needed to ensure reliable measurement, quality control and batch-to-batch consistency.
For the Colour Units (CU) evaluation of Safflower, our approach follows the relevant EU methodology, where the pigment can be assessed using distilled water without an additional solvent. Colour strength is calculated based on the pigment input.
The result is a Safflower-derived natural yellow food colouring that delivers:
- Colour strength: 9β11
- 100% dissolution in oil
- ΞEcmc < 2.0
- High performance in oil-based coating applications
- High batch-to-batch colour consistency
- E-number-free formulation
What this development means for natural colour innovation
This project represents more than the development of another yellow food colouring. It demonstrates what can be achieved when pigment knowledge, formulation expertise and application testing come together.
βInnovation isn’t always about discovering a completely new pigment,β our colour specialist points out. βSometimes, it is about understanding an existing pigment differently and discovering what becomes possible when you approach it from another angle.β
Our Safflower development is part of our ongoing ambition to build a high-performance natural colour portfolio for food manufacturers in TΓΌrkiye and around the world.
Because for us, R&D is about more than creating something new. It is about understanding a problem, testing, learning, refining and ultimately creating a solution that works in a real food application.
Contact us to discuss your colour requirements or request a sample of our Safflower-derived natural yellow food colouring.