CARAMEL

Chemical Properties
Caramel color is one of the oldest and most widely used food-color additives.
Caramel has an odor of burnt sugar and a pleasant, bitter taste. However, at the
low levels used in food, the taste is not perceptible. Internationally, the Joint
FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (JECFA) has
divided caramel color into four classes, depending on the reactants used in its
manufacturing. For further details, see Burdock (1997)
Uses
 Pharmaceutical aid (color).
 Caramel is used as a coloring agent. It provides products with a slight touch
of brown. Some sources also state that it acts as a soothing agent in skin care
preparations. Caramel is a concentrated solution obtained from heating sugar
or glucose solutions.
 Caramel is a colorant that is an amorphous, dark brown product resulting
from the controlled heat treatment of carbohydrates such as dextrose,
sucrose, and malt syrup. It is available in liquid and powdered forms,
providing shades of brown. In coloring a food with caramel, the food
components must have the same charge as the particles of caramel, otherwise
the particles will attract one another and precipitate out. Caramel can exist as
several types, for example, acid-proof caramel of negative charge which is used
in carbonated beverages, acidified solutions, bakers’ and confectioners’
caramel which are used in baked goods; and dried caramel for dry mixes.
Major uses are in coloring beverages such as colas and root beers and in baked
goods.

Definition
A sugar-based food colorant made from liquid corn syrup by heating in the
presence of catalysts to approximately 250F (121C) for several hours, cooling to
200F (93C), and filtering. The brown color results from either Maillard reactions,
true caramelization, or oxidative reactions. Caramels are colloidal in nature, the
particles being held in solution by either positive or negative electric charges.

Preparation
Made by heating sugar or glucose, adding small amounts of alkali, alkaline
carbonate or a trace of mineral acid during the heating.

Safety Profile
Mutation data reported. When heated to decomposition it emits acrid smoke and
irritating fumes.