In the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the food authority has chosen to provide guidelines for the preparation and mixing of food colors.
The FSSAI has released a proposed set of regulations detailing the acceptable color preparations, as well as the diluents or fillers that can be used in such preparations.
These include: safe drinking water; table salt; sugar; dextrose monohydrate; liquid glucose; sodium sulfate; tartaric acid; glycerine; propylene glycol; acetic acid (diluted); sorbitol; citric acid; sodium carbonate; sodium hydrogen carbonate; lactose; ammonium, sodium, and potassium alginates; dextrins; ethyl acetate; starches; diethyl ether;
The proposed text defines “color preparation” as any preparation intended for use in coloring food that contains one or more of the approved food colors meeting the stipulated standard, coupled with diluents and/or filler components. It may have stabilizers and preservatives that aren’t banned. The dye mix would come in either liquid or powder form. Neither lumps nor foreign material should be present in powdered medications, and sediments shouldn’t be in liquid ones.
The draft’s General Requirements further stipulate that the total dye content, expressed as a percent by mass (m/v) in the color preparation or the mixture, shall be disclosed on the label of the container.
The declared value for powdered preparations must be calculated on a moisture-free basis, whereas the declared value for liquid preparations must be calculated on an “as in” basis. The final product can incorporate allowed preservatives and stabilizers, and the total dye content is required to be within the tolerance limits indicated on the declared value: (a) liquid preparations, 15%; (b) solid preparations, 7.5%.