MUTAGENICITY OF SYNTHETIC FOOD COLOURANTS AND EXPLOITATION OF BEET ROOT PIGMENTS IN CONFECTIONARIES

Food colourants play a vital role in marketing various confectionary products like biscuits,cakes ,jams jellies and so on. Colour added to these products is believed to improve the appetite and also it makes the food items look attractive. Almost all the colours used in these food products are synthetic so the health aspect is always questionable. The most commonly used synthetic food colourants like apple green, kesar colour and strawberry pink have been tested for their toxicity through AMES test using the tester strain TA 98 and TA 1535 and the results analysed statistically. Natural food colour yielding plants are screened and pigments from beet root are extracted and processed to suit various confectionary utility. The AMES test   revealed the mutagenic potential of selected synthetic food colourants and such potential is absent in the natural food colourants. This study has proved the beneficial aspects of using a natural colourant in the food industry as compared to using a synthetic food colourant which is found to be very harmful to health.