Plant-based colorants such as beets and carrots still dominate conversations about natural alternatives to synthetic food dyes. However, natural pigments produced by microbes in fermentation tanks can outperform some botanicals on taste, consistency, and stability, claim startups in the field.<\/p>\n
Lycored\u200b<\/a>\u200b\u00a0and others have been using the fungus\u00a0Blakeslea trispora<\/em>\u00a0to make beta-carotene (an orange pigment and bioactive) for years, while\u00a0DDW<\/a>\u200b\u00a0(now part of Givaudan) \u200buses the microalgae\u00a0Galdieria sulphuraria<\/em> to produce blue colors.<\/p>\n However, several new startups have emerged in recent years arguing that food colors made via fermentation can deliver superior performance, especially for red hues, and provide a consistent supply of product that can be produced closer to end markets.<\/p>\n Speaking to AgFunderNews<\/em> after FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary unveiled plans<\/a> (although not formal rulemaking) to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the US food supply by the end of next year, Michroma<\/a> founder Ricky Cassini said he was seeing \u201caccelerated interest from investors and potential customers\u201d in his precision fermentation platform.<\/p>\n Michroma, which has operations in Argentina and the US, works with filamentous fungi that naturally produce red pigments, but uses the gene editing tool CRISPR to enhance yield and performance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is that many food producers currently don\u2019t have suitable alternatives for synthetic dyes Red 3 and Red 40,\u201d claimed Cassini.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main options each come with significant drawbacks. Carmine provides comparable shade and stability, but, being extracted from the cochineal bug, it\u2019s not suitable for vegetarian, vegan, kosher, or halal diets. Meanwhile, vegetable-derived colorants like beetroot extract lack the necessary stability and taste neutrality for many applications, especially in baked goods, dairy, and meat products.<\/p>\n \u201cMoreover, even if current natural dyes worked well enough in terms of performance, the supply wouldn\u2019t be sufficient to solve the increased demand,\u201d he claimed. \u201cNatural colorants generally have much lower coloring power compared to synthetic food dyes, meaning larger quantities are needed to achieve the same effect [although several natural color suppliers now make more concentrated products enabling formulators to use less]. This makes a direct 1:1 replacement practically unfeasible on a global scale without innovative new solutions like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Cassini, Michroma\u2019s Red+<\/a> colorant can deliver \u201cremarkable stability across pH ranges and temperature conditions that surpass both synthetic dyes and existing natural alternatives. Unlike plant-based colorants that often struggle with stability during processing, our fungi-derived pigments maintain vibrancy through pasteurization, baking, and extrusion.\u201d<\/p>\n Red+ delivers \u201cexponentially more coloring capacity than beetroot powder, requiring significantly less product to achieve the same visual impact,\u201d he added. \u201cThis translates to better economics and cleaner labels for food companies.\u201d<\/p>\n Michroma now has 20+ signed letters of intent from food companies and has completed over a dozen paid pilot projects, said Cassini, who is currently scaling production and navigating the color additive petition process in the US. \u00a0\u201cThe feedback has been consistently positive, with several companies confirming that our colorants perform better than any other natural alternative they\u2019ve tested.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe timing of this FDA announcement couldn\u2019t be better aligned with our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n Gerit Tolborg, PhD, CEO and founder at Danish startup\u00a0Chromologics<\/a>, also specializes in natural red pigments via fermentation with non GMO strains of filamentous fungi, although work is also progressing on yellow shades.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have successfully scaled our production and signed an agreement with the Italian ingredient manufacturer Olon,\u201d Tolborg told AgFunderNews<\/em>. \u201cWe have also completed the majority of the required regulatory tests and have had several pre-submission meetings with the FDA. We are currently fine-tuning the formulation of our ingredient, and our plan is to submit to [regulators in] both the US and the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cWe have completed several pilot scale campaigns with large global food manufacturers in different food application areas. Those campaigns validated at scale the great performance (pH and heat stability), color hue (great replacement for Red 3 and carmine), and ease of application (easily water soluble, low dosage needed, no off-taste) of our red color Natu.Red. In terms of cost in use, meanwhile, we are cost-competitive to carmine.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from performance, fermentation-derived colors also offer some other advantages over botanicals including \u201cconsistent supply and quality throughout all batches and all year around, something that becomes more and more critical for our customers,\u201d claimed Tolborg.<\/p>\n \u201cThe low costs for synthetic dyes have presented a barrier to switch from synthetic food dyes to natural until now, but if this [phase out of synthetic food dyes] becomes mandatory, Natu.Red represents a great replacement for Red 3 and Red 40.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli startup Phytolon<\/a>, meanwhile, utilizes two strains of baker\u2019s yeast, one modified to secrete a water-soluble yellow pigment and the other to secrete a water-soluble purple pigment.<\/p>\n Phytolon can then combine the two to produce a wide range of colors from vibrant reds and pinks to oranges that are stable across a wide pH range, says the firm, which has submitted color additive petitions to the FDA for both colors.<\/p>\n Labeling is still to be determined, but as the colors themselves are not GMOs (rather they are produced by GM baker\u2019s yeast, which is filtered out of the final product) they will not be subject to bioengineered food labeling laws in the US.<\/p>\n Phytolon has pilot facilities in-house but has struck a deal with a contract manufacturer to produce its pigments at industrial scale.<\/p>\n \u201cWe use the same metabolic pathways to make the colors that you can find in\u00a0beets<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0prickly pears<\/a>,\u201d said cofounder and CEO Halim Jubran,\u00a0PhD, who has been working with\u00a0Ginkgo Bioworks<\/a>\u00a0on optimizing its yeast strains to achieve titers it claims can make it cost competitive with natural colors extracted from plants, but with higher levels of purity, no off tastes, and a more sustainable, reliable supply chain.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the lack of any plant residuals in the colors, we see an advantage in performance without the off tastes that can come especially when you use [plant-based natural] colors in large amounts,\u201d he told AgFunderNews<\/em>.<\/p>\n The purer the color, he said, \u201cthe less undesired interaction it brings with the food matrix, which also means increased stability of the color. So red velvet cake is a good example of an application where right now, most companies still use synthetics and we think we have the best alternative solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Jubran is working with large food companies including Rich Products, which is exploring using Phytolon\u2019s colors in icing, toppings, and baked goods. \u201cThe high production efficiency of our fermentation technology puts our colors in the forefront of cost efficiency among current natural colors in the market. And by combining our two end-colors, we can unlock the full palette.\u201d<\/p>\n The FDA is:<\/p>\n Speaking at a livestreamed press conference on Tuesday afternoon, FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said that taking petroleum-based food dyes out of the food supply \u201cis not a silver bullet that will instantly make America\u2019s children healthy, but it is one important step.\u201d<\/p>\n The food industry, which is currently facing a \u201cpatchwork of standards\u201d as multiple states institute their own bans on select food dyes, has also \u201casked for clarity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Asked by a reporter whether the FDA had struck a formal deal with leading food companies to phase out synthetic food dyes, Health & Human Services Commissioner Robert F Kennedy Jr said: \u201cWe don\u2019t have an agreement; we have an understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Makary added:\u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s start in a friendly way and see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes. But we are exploring every tool in the toolbox to make sure this gets done very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n This went down badly with Dr. Peter G. Lurie, president of health advocacy group The Center for Science in the Public Interest<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner Makary would hold a press conference to announce the elimination of food dyes\u2014only for reporters to learn that the only real regulatory moves here are to move to ban two rarely used dyes, Citrus Red 2 and Orange B, within the coming months.<\/p>\n \u201cThey announced no rulemaking of any sort to remove the remaining six numbered dyes. Instead, we are told that the administration has an unspecified \u2018understanding\u2019 with some unspecified fraction of the food industry to eliminate dyes.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Confectioners Association<\/a>, meanwhile, told us that members will \u201ccontinue to follow regulatory guidance from the authorities in this space,\u201d while the Consumer Brands Association<\/a> urged the administration \u201cto prioritize research that is objective, peer reviewed and relevant to human health and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n While some synthetic food colors have been linked to ADHD<\/a> in some children, prompting warning notices on food labels in the EU<\/a>, human clinical trials do not establish a direct link<\/a> between these dyes and obesity or diabetes, as alleged by some speakers at the press event.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plant-based colorants such as beets and carrots still dominate conversations about natural alternatives to synthetic food dyes. However, natural pigments produced by microbes in fermentation tanks can outperform some botanicals on taste, consistency, and stability, claim startups in the field. Lycored\u200b\u200b\u00a0and others have been using the fungus\u00a0Blakeslea trispora\u00a0to make beta-carotene (an orange pigment and bioactive) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":200576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12026],"tags":[53022,19889,4268,4519,2074,3599,14715],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-200575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-dyes","tag-fda","tag-fermentation","tag-focus","tag-food","tag-synthetic","tag-targets"],"yoast_head":"\nMichroma: Promising \u2018remarkable stability across pH ranges and temperature conditions\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/agfundernews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Untitled-design-34.png\")
Chromologics: \u2018We have successfully scaled our production\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/agfundernews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Chromologics-Natu-Red.jpg\")
Phytolon: \u2018We can unlock the full palette\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Phytolon](\"https:\/\/agfundernews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Phytolon-color-range-e1731097174353.jpg\")
FDA commissioner: \u2018Let\u2019s see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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CSPI: \u2018They announced no rulemaking of any sort\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n