Anthocyanins are water-soluble flavonoid pigments that give berries, red cabbage, black carrot, and purple sweet potato their vivid red-to-blue hues. In acidic foods (pH ≤ 3.5), they appear bright crimson; at neutral pH, they drift toward violet, and above pH 7, they fade or shift blue.
Thanks to their pH-responsive color change, proven safety, and plant-based origin, anthocyanins are a top natural alternative to carmine (made from insects) and synthetic FD&C red dyes.
Why Switch to Anthocyanins?
1. Health & Regulation Benefits
Safe and approved: Most anthocyanins are considered safe in the US and EU. They don’t need allergen or insect-based labels.
Better for all diets: With growing concerns about synthetic dyes and carmine (from insects), anthocyanins are a good fit for vegan, kosher, and halal products.
2. Functional Advantages
Color variety: By mixing different sources like black carrot, red cabbage, and elderberry, you can create a full range of red to purple shades.
Improved stability: New processing methods make these colors more stable under heat, storage, and light – ideal for drinks and baked goods.
3. Consumer & Market Fit
Clean labels: They show up on ingredient lists as familiar items like “black carrot juice concentrate.”
Sustainability: Some sources, such as grape skin, utilize waste from winemaking, supporting eco-friendly goals.
Leading Manufacturers of Anthocyanin Colours
1. GNT (Netherlands)
GNT’s EXBERRY portfolio is built on vertically-integrated farming of high-pigment crops such as black carrot, purple sweet potato, elderberry, and hibiscus. By processing these botanicals only with water and physical methods, GNT markets its concentrates as “colouring foods,” enabling ultra-clean labels (e.g., “vegetable juice [black carrot]”).
Its R&D and agronomy teams continuously breed acylated anthocyanin varieties for superior heat and light stability. It focuses on delivering high tinting strength with minimal off-flavor, enabling manufacturers to achieve more vibrant reds and purples at lower usage rates.
2. Döhler (Germany)
Headquartered in Darmstadt, Döhler offers a broad suite of anthocyanin colours from blackcurrant, grape skin, red cabbage, and black carrot. A hallmark of their process is gentle sulphited-juice extraction, which locks in colour during extended shelf life—vital for ambient RTD drinks.
Döhler also engineers warm-red blends by pairing anthocyanins with paprika or curcumin, helping brands replace Allura Red without a bluish undertone. Their global application centres guide customers on pH buffering and chelation strategies to maintain stable hues under pasteurization.
3. ADM / WILD Flavors (USA/Germany)
Under ADM’s umbrella, WILD’s long-standing expertise in fruit and vegetable colour extraction now integrates flavour modulators and sweetness solutions, allowing single-supplier prototypes.
Black carrot, elderberry, purple corn, and red cabbage concentrates are manufactured on multiple continents, allowing multinationals to match shades globally. ADM’s scientists are also piloting fermented anthocyanins to boost retort stability and unlock novel hues beyond nature’s typical palette.
4. San-Ei Gen (Japan)
San-Ei Gen specialises in ultra-neutral-tasting anthocyanins from purple sweet potato, red radish, and grape skin—ideal for delicate Japanese confections and beverages.
Their R&D teams have pioneered aluminium lake anthocyanins for tablet coatings and speckled candies, as well as micro-granular powders that disperse instantly in cold water. Collaborations with local universities continue to yield novel cereal or barley anthocyanins with extra acylation for heat tolerance.
5. Givaudan (USA)
Givaudan’s Vegebrite offers anthocyanins from black carrot, blackcurrant, elderberry, and red cabbage—many available as organic.
The colors are made using gentle filtration to reduce browning and spray-drying to protect them in dry mixes. Customers also benefit from ready-made flavour and color combinations, which help speed up new drink development.
6. Kalsec (USA)
Known for its spice extracts, Kalsec blends elderberry, red cabbage, and black carrot anthocyanins with natural antioxidants, such as rosemary, to retard oxidative fading.
Their R&D emphasises farm-to-label transparency, contracting purple-carrot and heirloom red-corn growers in the US Midwest. Kalsec solutions often appear in savoury snacks and plant-based proteins, where colour must survive mild baking while harmonising with spice and herb notes.
7. Oterra (Denmark) – including SECNA assets
Oterra augmented its anthocyanin portfolio by acquiring Spain-based SECNA, a specialist in grape-skin and black-carrot extracts.
Today, they supply instant water-soluble powders, oil-dispersible emulsions, and cost-optimised concentrates aimed at mid-tier beverage and confectionery brands. Breeding programmes for highly acylated black carrot lines target stability in UHT dairy and retorted sauces.
Conclusion
Anthocyanins are increasingly adopted as viable natural replacements for synthetic food colours, driven by consumer demand and regulatory acceptance. Their application continues to expand, facilitated by advances in extraction technology and stabilisation techniques, narrowing performance gaps with synthetic counterparts.
Anthocyanins represent not only a safer alternative but also a sustainable choice derived from renewable agricultural sources, thereby reinforcing their significance in modern food formulation.
Ready to make the shift to natural colorants? Let’s collaborate on incorporating anthocyanin-based reds and purples into your products.
