Providing colour to plant-based food

Plant-based diets are here to stay.

The trend for “plant-based” started around 2016. However, the term “plant-based” had already been used by T. Colin Campbell in 1980 as a way to describe a vegetable-based diet that is low-fat, high-fiber, and which would work as a cancer treatment strategy. Campbell wrote that he was looking for an objective and clear way to describe vegan or strict-vegetarian diets without evoking the highly-charged emotions that are often associated with the existing terms.

The term “plant-based” has been used a lot to describe meat substitutes but is also used much more widely. At the same time, eating a “plant-based diet” means eating mostly fruits and vegetables, and reducing consumption of animal products, but without having to commit in full to vegetarianism or veganism in your eating or lifestyle practices. Plant-based foods are continuing to trend in the food industry, and they are popular among vegans and nonvegans alike.

The beginning of “plant-based” popularity, in the 1980s, was driven from health and eco-conscious shoppers but today more consumers just incorporate plant-based products into their diets. This is the flexitarian movement. A Global Plant-Based Survey 2021, involving almost 12,000 consumers in 10 countries, found that 25% of consumers identify as flexitarian, making this the most important target group for producers of plant-based products.

In 2022, in a consumer study regarding sensory expectations around “plant-based” burgers and cheese slices, it was found that flexitarians are more critical than vegan and vegetarian consumers. Flexitarians desire a “plant-based” product that tastes as close as possible to a real beef burger or cheese.

It is widely known that the taste is very much influenced by the appearance, where the colour is the most important attribute.

In this direction, CORALIM helps you to provide colour to your “plant-based” products with Colouring Foodstuffs (E number free colours).

Case of success: CORALCOLOR EXTRACT VEGGIE RED

This is one of our developments that is in the market, being used to provide colour to “plant-based” burgers.

With our VEGGIE RED, the fresh “plant-based” burger presents a very appetising red colour, similar to the real beef burger. During cooking, the shade changes to brown to mimic the expected appearance of the cooked beef burger.