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Color can be a setback for organics

The strawberry milk that is sold by Horizon Organics is white, unlike the pink strawberry milks sold by some of its competitors. The company is having a hard time finding a natural, organic coloring to give it the familiar color that consumers associate with strawberry-flavored milk.

And they are not alone.

For a company to use the "USDA Organic" label, the ingredients must be organic and the colorings must be natural. The colorings must be from organic ingredients for a product to claim that it is 100% organic. Fresh produce and other products don't usually have issues with colorings, but other organic products do, which can give them a disadvantage in the marketplace because consumers expect their food items to look a certain way. Strawberry milk, for example, is generally a shade of pink.

So organic food processors are looking for natural plant sources that will produce the colors they want and trying to encourage farmers to produce organic versions. Beets are used for red, carrots for orange and turmeric for yellow in many products, but many categories are left without coloring. To help alleviate the problem and not put organics at a disadvantage, the National Organic Standards Board is planning to meet this spring "to devise a precise list of natural colors that can be used in organic foods until organic colors are commercially available."

Source

Filed Under: Business, Stores & Shopping, Ingredients
Tags: america, color, coloring, milk, natural, natural coloring, organic, organic coloring, plants, prganics, rules, spices, stores-and-shopping, usda, vegetables

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

Michael Glenn

1-10-2007 @1:06PM Michael Glenn said... Does anyone find it funny that the term "organic" is used in this manner? Has anyone ever eaten a "non-organic" strawberry?
Because logically, wouldn't that be a strawberry made of stone?
Reply

Roger

1-10-2007 @1:01PM Roger said... um... wouldn't organic strawberries make it pink?

Reply

Nicole Weston

1-10-2007 @1:08PM Nicole Weston said... Roger - They don't put actually berries into the milk. They use "Natural Strawberry Flavor," which apparently is not pink.
Reply

Lauren

1-10-2007 @3:12PM Lauren said... It'd be a whole lot healthier to blend a couple of fresh strawberries into a glass of milk than to drink something with "natural strawberry flavor".
Reply

Heather

1-10-2007 @4:39PM Heather said... I'm with Lauren. It's not that hard to make it yourself, if you're truly seeking the organic lifestyle.

And, technically, Roger is correct. I'm sure that Strawberry juice in the right proportion would turn the milk pink or strawberry puree. I know this because a recipe that I have been trying to perfect uses a strawberry cream filling. To give the cream flavor, the recipe calls for a strawberry puree to be folded into the cream. And, sure enough, you do end up with pink cream.

If the industry hasn't tried this, I would guess it has something to do with the shelf life of the product. But, I've been known to be wrong.
Reply

josh

1-10-2007 @5:14PM josh said... Strawberries do not necessarily make food pink. The problem is oxidation. It becomes more of a reddish brown.

Take a look at Stonyfield Farms (a respected, and conscientious company) Yogurt. They color their strawberry flavor with organic beet juice.

Simple, bright pink, and healthy too.
Reply

Parker

1-10-2007 @8:04PM Parker said... The flavored single serve Horizon Milk is a UHT product. Shelf life shouldn't be an issue since it can sit at room temp for a couple months. I suspect the flavoring has more to do with homogeneity and cost.
Reply

esmereldagrubb

1-10-2007 @10:59PM esmereldagrubb said... WHo cares if its PINK??
If it tastes like Stawberries.....thats all that counts!
Reply

Baron

1-11-2007 @3:19PM Baron said... Kids care. If you are going to force your lifestyle on your kids, it helps if the product is pleasing to them too. I know from my childhood and watching parents deal with kids that even a drop of red (or other colors) food coloring into a glass of milk can make all the difference in the world for a kid to drink it.
Reply

9 Comments / 1 Pages

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