I coloranti alimentari

Food coloring is an additive which imparts color when it is added to food or drink with the aim to make them more attractive. We are dealing with 'aesthetic' characteristics, which may determine a detriment of the characteristics of food safety and security, particularly in the case of organic synthesis coloring. To this regard, in the last years a growing interest to artificial food colors and attempt to replace them with natural colors, has been recorded both by scientific community and public opinion. In this report, this progressive substitution path has been reported, even from a historical point of view and from the role of EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). Particular emphasis has been done, in this survey, to red food colorings (both artificial and natural), due to the scientific and media interest, to these kind of color. Finally, the results of the survey, done in local (Brindisi and Lecce provinces) supermarkets during a couple of years, is reported as an example.