Great post. I think about the fast food and junk food commercials you see on broadcast television during big sporting events. Every product has the same orangey hue, from fried chicken in a big tub to those orangey taco shells with more orangey "cheesy" insides.
That orange-y hue is there because N American consumers associate it with punchy umami cheesy flavours. If you took the strong colour away, the snacks would seem to taste less flavourful, would be less appealing and would sell fewer units.
In the Cheez-its in your pic, the colour is from paprika extract and annato extract. They are both natural colours, not problematic from a health perspective.
It's also worth noting that natural colours can be quite expensive.
As a former product development technologist for a savoury snack brand, I can promise you that if the manufacturer could reduce the amount of colour without impacting sales negatively, they would.
I recall well your time in chips!! Thank you for the informative response. BTW Doritos just came out with a white bag “unflavored” that is supposed to be free of coloring etc. Might need to use this as a future topic. Thx!!
The food tech sleuth is on the case. :) It must be connected with some kind of preservative? Or do they think that the chemically orange hue is in some way alluring?? Because it's prominent. To me, it's anything BUT alluring.
Great post. I think about the fast food and junk food commercials you see on broadcast television during big sporting events. Every product has the same orangey hue, from fried chicken in a big tub to those orangey taco shells with more orangey "cheesy" insides.
So right! Maybe that orange-y hue needs to be unpacked?
That orange-y hue is there because N American consumers associate it with punchy umami cheesy flavours. If you took the strong colour away, the snacks would seem to taste less flavourful, would be less appealing and would sell fewer units.
In the Cheez-its in your pic, the colour is from paprika extract and annato extract. They are both natural colours, not problematic from a health perspective.
It's also worth noting that natural colours can be quite expensive.
As a former product development technologist for a savoury snack brand, I can promise you that if the manufacturer could reduce the amount of colour without impacting sales negatively, they would.
I recall well your time in chips!! Thank you for the informative response. BTW Doritos just came out with a white bag “unflavored” that is supposed to be free of coloring etc. Might need to use this as a future topic. Thx!!
The food tech sleuth is on the case. :) It must be connected with some kind of preservative? Or do they think that the chemically orange hue is in some way alluring?? Because it's prominent. To me, it's anything BUT alluring.