Dr. Andreas Ernst, BASF SE, im Interview mit dem Newsportal "Flexnews"

 Quelle: Flexnews (www.flex-news-food.com), 13. April 2010

INTERVIEW: Replacing Azo Dyes - Implications for EU Food Manufacturers
Source: FLEXNEWS
13/04/2010

13 April 2010 – European food and beverage manufacturers face a new challenge as EU Regulation 1333/2008 comes into effect on 20 July 2010.
The regulation was adopted by the European Commission in July 2008 in response to studies linking the ingestion of food additive (including colour) mixtures and hyperactive child behaviour; and despite a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinion advising not to take any specific action until the availability of further proof of adverse reactions induced by food colours in children.
EU Regulation 1333/2008 requires that the synthetic azo dyes, otherwise known as the ‘Southampton Six’: sunset yellow (E110), quinoline yellow (E104), carmoisine (E122), allura red (E129), tartrazine (E102), and Ponceau 4R (E124) be labelled by their common names or E numbers in the list of ingredients along with the following warning statement: "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".
Food and beverage producers have therefore less than 4 months left to either reformulate or make sure that the warning statement is correctly displayed on packaging.
UK-based Campden BRI, an independent organisation carrying out research and development for the global food and drinks industry, highlights the fact that reformulating products can be a complex process - requiring knowledge of ingredients, processing techniques, and packaging materials, and the interactions between them. Consequently, seeking potential replacements for the Southampton 6 colours may not be so clear-cut.
FLEXNEWS spoke to BASF to find out what the practical implications are for Europe’s food and drink manufacturers. In addition, the German chemical company’s human nutrition division produces a broad line of nutritional ingredients, including carotenoids, which are well-positioned as substitutes for azo dyes.
Dr. Andreas Ernst, who is product manager for beta-carotene at BASF’s Global Business Unit ‘Nutrition Ingredients’ also provided an overview of the carotenoid market, which continues to witness growth.

[FLEXNEWS] Dr. Ernst, what will the “…may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children” warning label look like? Can manufacturers use small text or find other techniques to make it hard for the consumer to read the message?
[Andreas Ernst] Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008 states that food products containing the colours sunset yellow (E 110), quinoline yellow (E 104), carmoisine (E 122), allura red (E 129), tartrazine (E 102), ponceau 4R (E 124) must contain the following additional information on the label: ‘name or E number of the colour(s)’: "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".
The wording is fixed and will be mandatory for all products containing azo dyes being produced from 20 July 2010. Synonym wordings cannot be used according to our understanding.
The additional information has to be marked in a conspicuous place in such a way as to be easily visible, clearly legible and indelible. This warning statement shall not in any way be hidden, obscured or interrupted by other written or pictorial matter.

[FLEXNEWS] Do you know what the practical and financial implications are for a manufacturer of a soft drink if he wants to reformulate to carotenoids? If a company decides to switch to carotenoids now, will it be ready for 20 July 2010? How long would the process take?
[Andreas Ernst] Natural and nature-identical ingredients and colours are higher in costs and prices than artificial colours like azo dyes.
This can be in the order of one or two magnitudes based on colouring potential. But, as the needed amounts are still very small, the costs per litre of beverage remain in most cases below 1 euro-cent. And, in addition to this, you have further costs for reformulation development.
The reformulation of a soft drink takes at least 3 to 6 months. And the company often has many recipes and brands to change.
If the decision to switch has not been made by now, it might become very tight for a producer, especially if the expected resulting demand has not been indicated to the supplier yet.
Typically such products are produced in batches, which require diligent planning on the producer side and unexpected demand always poses a problem to accommodate.

[FLEXNEWS] Some food and beverage manufacturers have already switched to alternative colouring solutions. Can you provide me with a few details on how BASF's carotenoids have been used by the food industry?
[Andreas Ernst] As we know from several customer projects, manufacturers want an exact colour match to their current successful products containing azo dyes. For that reason we often use mixtures of formulations to obtain a perfect match, for example by combining different ratios of beta-carotene yellow with beta-carotene red.
At Drinktec in Munich last year, we established contacts in the soft drink industry, and consequently developed specific customer projects, which BASF can support thanks to its range of carotenoids and technical application knowhow.
Some of these projects/re-formulations have already been successfully tested by customers on a production scale to be prepared for the up-coming labelling requirements/substitution of azo dyes.

[FLEXNEWS] According to you what are the main reasons why some manufacturers have not yet stopped using azo dyes? Do you think that some companies will keep on using azo dyes despite the new labelling obligations?
[Andreas Ernst] Some of them might still be in reformulation work since this is not an easy task. Others may have finalised the substitution but are still hesitant to launch their new products due to cost implications and switching risks.
Even some customers might be considering to label as their target group would not mind a warning label for children (e.g. for energy drinks). This is also the reason why alcoholic drinks are excluded from these labelling requirements.

[FLEXNEWS] BASF argues: "azo dyes are in a colour range where our colours fit". Can you expand on this statement?
[Andreas Ernst] The artificial azo-dyes in question are often used in brightly yellow, orange or red coloured soft drinks.
This is especially the colour range of carotenoids, which are responsible for the deep yellow, orange and red colour of many fruits and vegetables like mangoes, watermelons, tomatoes or carrots.
In addition, carotenoids are not simply colours. Beta-carotene is well known for its antioxidant properties and as a pro-vitamin A, whereas lycopene is well known for its heart, skin and prostate health benefits.

[FLEXNEWS] When BASF speaks about carotenoids, the company always uses the description "nature-identical" along side them. Why is this? When you say "beta-carotene and lycopene are identical to their natural counterparts", is this an argument you use with the food manufacturers?
[Andreas Ernst] Yes, of course. In contrast to artificial azo dyes, which do not occur in nature, our beta-carotene and lycopene are identical to their counterparts found in carrots or tomatoes.
So nature-identical carotenoids are seen as and can be labelled as non-artificial since they occur in nature. This was also recently confirmed by natural food colours organization NATCOL.

[FLEXNEWS] At what stage in the production of a soft drink is carotenoid colouring added?
[Andreas Ernst] Carotenoid formulations are typically dispersed in water and added as a stock solution to the beverage concentrate, together with antioxidants, flavours and other ingredients used in small quantities. This concentrate is then diluted with water and bulk ingredients to the final beverage at the bottling plants.

[FLEXNEWS] What are the European Food Safety Agency’s opinions on BASF’s beta-carotene and lycopene?
[Andreas Ernst] Recently the European Food Safety Agency evaluated lycopene from several sources. According to EFSA there is no difference between the different lycopene sources, such as synthetic or natural lycopene, and consequently they allocated a group-ADI for all lycopene sources.
As a consequence, nature-identical lycopene from BASF was authorised as a Novel Food in 2009. At the moment, EFSA is in the process of approving synthetic lycopene for use as a food colorant.
Beta-carotene is a well-established food colorant and pro-vitamin A source. As a food colorant beta-carotene is part of the current re-evaluation program undertaken by EFSA. An opinion has not yet been published though.
In addition, several health claims on beta-carotene and lycopene have been included in the so-called article 13-list. Most of them have not been evaluated yet. And, for lycopene, no health claim has been evaluated. However, EFSA has already positively evaluated many health claims on vitamins including vitamin A.
Beta-carotene is an accepted vitamin A source and therefore foods containing beta-carotene will be able to use claims approved for vitamin A. The following vitamin A health claims have already been positively evaluated:
Vitamin A contributes to normal cell differentiation.
Vitamin A contributes to a normal function of the immune system.
Vitamin A contributes to the maintenance of normal skin and mucous membranes.
Vitamin A contributes to the maintenance of normal vision.
Vitamin A contributes to normal iron metabolism.

[FLEXNEWS] Can you provide me with a brief overview of the European beta-carotene market?
[Andreas Ernst] We estimate the current value of the European beta-carotene market between 50 and 100 million euro.
In terms of growth we expect a sharp increase this year and in 2011, which will be driven by the changes in the regulatory environment, including the switch away from azo dyes.
BASF is expected to continue to be a major player in this market as the company has over 30 years of experience in the development and application of special carotenoid formulations for nutrition.

[FLEXNEWS] BASF has enough capacity for the next 3-5 years in beta-carotene. Do you expect additional customer demand? In which BASF factories is your Lucarotin® beta-carotene product manufactured?
[Andreas Ernst] BASF manufactures beta-carotene and lycopene formulations at the ‘Verbund’ site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and in Ballerup, Denmark.
We see two major growth drivers in the carotenoid market for foods and beverages:
1. The trend away from artificial colours, which is currently strong in Europe but will migrate long term also to other regions like North America.
2. The continuous strong growth in Asia, especially in China and India.

[FLEXNEWS] Besides carotenoids, what other food colourings exist? Do you think carotenoids have, or will have, more market share compared to its competitor colouring products?
[Andreas Ernst] Besides carotenoids there are other yellow to red, mostly natural, colours available like curcumin, carmine or anthocyanins.
These mainly have drawbacks in stability, performance or supply. In addition there are so-called colouring foodstuffs available like pumpkin or black carrot juice concentrates. However, with these concentrates, you are often facing unwanted taste impacts or allergenicity issues.
We think that for all these reasons (purity, quality, reliable supply and excellent price/performance ratio) using nature-identical beta-carotene and lycopene is the best way to replace azo-dyes with red, yellow or orange colour.
One has to consider that almost all the concerned beverage and food producers will surely change their recipes (at least in the EU but also in other regions) in the near future. You can imagine that this requires volumes, which natural colorants are simply unable to meet.