Caramel coloring is caramel used as a food coloring; like caramel candy, it is made by controlled heating of sugar, generally in the presence of acids or alkalis and possibly other compounds, a process called caramelization. Its color ranges from dark brown to black. A piece of caramel confectionery. ... Food coloring spreading on a soap bubble. ... Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... Acidity redirects here. ... For other uses of the word alkali see Alkali (disambiguation). ... A chemical compound is a chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemically bonded chemical elements, with a fixed ratio determining the composition. ... Vegetables being caramelized Caramelization or caramelisation (see spelling differences) is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. ... Brown, when used as a general term, is a color which is a dark orange, red or rose, of very low intensity. ... Black cat, thought by some to cause bad luck Black is both a color and the shade of objects that do not reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum. ...

There are four types of caramel, differing in their method of manufacture and application, each with its own E number: For the mathematical constant see: E (mathematical constant). ...

• Plain caramel, caustic caramel, or spirit caramel (Class I): E150a, contains sugar and sometimes acids, alkalis, and salts other than ammonium and sulphite compounds.
• Caustic sulphite caramel (Class II): E150b, may contain sulphite compounds.
• Ammonia caramel, baker's caramel, confectioner's caramel, or beer caramel (Class III): E150c, may contain ammonium compounds; used in beer, soy sauce, and confectionery.
• Sulphite ammonia caramel, acid-proof caramel, or soft-drink caramel (Class IV): E150d, may also both ammonium and sulphite compounds; used in acid environments such as soft drinks.

Acidity redirects here. ... For other uses of the word alkali see Alkali (disambiguation). ... A magnified crystal of a salt (halite/sodium chloride) Salt covering the floor of Bad Water in Death Valley, CA, the lowest point in the US. A salt, in chemistry, is any ionic compound composed of cations (positively charged ions) and anions (negative ions) so that the product is neutral... Sulfites are sulfur-based compounds often used as preservatives in wines (to prevent spoilage and oxidation,) dried fruits, and dried potato products. ... A ball-and-stick model of the ammonium cation Fumes from hydrochloric acid and ammonia forming a white cloud of ammonium chloride Ammonium is also an old name for the Siwa Oasis in western Egypt. ... Sulfites are sulfur-based compounds often used as preservatives in wines (to prevent spoilage and oxidation,) dried fruits, and dried potato products. ... A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ...

Uses

Caramel coloring is the most widely-used food coloring, and is found in almost every kind of industrially-produced food, including: beer, brown bread, buns, chocolate, biscuits, brandy, chocolate flavoured flour based confectionery, coatings, decorations, fillings and toppings, crisps, dessert mixes, doughnuts, fish and shellfish spreads, frozen desserts, glucose tablets, gravy browning, ice cream, jams, milk desserts, pancakes, pickles, sauces and dressings, soft drinks particularly cola drinks, stouts, sweets, vinegar, whisky, and wines.

Production

Caramel coloring can be produced from any sugar, but most commonly it is made from a high-dextrose starch hydrolysate or corn syrup. Various acids are generally added to break the chemical bonds in the sugars. A space-filling model of glucose Glucose, a simple monosaccharide sugar, is one of the most important carbohydrates and is used as a source of energy in animals and plants. ... Starch (CAS# 9005-25-8) is a complex carbohydrate which is insoluble in water; it is used by plants as a way to store excess glucose. ... Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction or process in which a molecule is split into two parts by reacting with a molecule of water, which has the chemical formula H2O. One of the parts gets an OH- from the water molecule and the other part gets an H+ from the water. ... Corn syrup, whose chemical formula is C6H12O6, is a syrup made from corn starch and composed mainly of glucose. ... A chemical bond is the PHYSICAL process responsible for the ATTRACTIVE INTERACTIONS between atoms and molecules, and that which confers stability to diatomic and polyatomic chemical compounds. ...

Color

The color of a caramel coloring can be specified using the Linner Hue Index for hue and tinctorial strength for the depth of color. The Linner Hue Index, [1] , is used to describe the hues which a given caramel color may produce. ... An image with the hues cyclically shifted The hues in the image of this Painted Bunting are cyclically rotated with time. ...

Physical properties

Caramel color is a colloid. It functions as an emulsifier in soft drinks. In general, a colloid or colloidal dispersion is a substance with components of one or two phases, a type of mixture intermediate between a homogeneous mixture (also called a solution) and a heterogeneous mixture with properties also intermediate between the two. ... An emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible substances. ...

Toxicology

The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) has concluded that commercially-produced caramel has the same toxicological properties as caramel produced by cooking or heating sucrose, except for those prepared using ammonium (Class III and IV). The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) is a collaboration between three United Nations bodies—the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. ... Sucrose (common name: table sugar, also called saccharose) is a disaccharide (glucose + fructose) with the molecular formula C12H22O11. ...

Despite widespread claims that caramel is toxic or carcinogenic, the IPCS has found no evidence of carcinogenicity or mutagenicity in its extensive studies. In pathology, a carcinogen is any substance or agent that promotes cancer. ... In biology, a mutagen (Latin, literally origin of change) is an agent that changes the genetic information (usually DNA) of an organism and thus increases the number of mutations above the natural background level. ...

The IPCS has set the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of Class I and II caramel colorings as "not limited"; that of Class III as 0-200 mg/kg body weight; and that of Class IV as 0-200 mg/kg. Acceptable Daily Intake or ADI is a measure of a specific substance (usually a food additive) in food or drinking water that can be ingested over a lifetime without an appreciable health risk. ...

The United States Food and Drug Administration classifies caramel coloring as generally recognized as safe.[1] The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating food (humans and animal), dietary supplements, drugs (human and animal), cosmetics, medical devices (human and animal) and radiation emitting devices (including non-medical devices), biologics, and... Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) is an FDA designation that a chemical or substance (including certain pesticides) added to food is considered safe by experts, and so is exempted from the usual FFDCA food additive tolerance requirements. ...

References

• European Commission Directive 95/45/EC (26 July 1995) on food colour purity
• Food Additives World, a manufacturor of food colors and flavorings[2]
• International Programme on Chemical Safety INCHEM Database [3]
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration definition of Caramel, Code of Federal Regulations 21 CFR 73.85