UK and Irish confectioners target of gold pigment release

25-Jul-2010 - Last updated on 27-Jul-2010 at 15:25 GMT

UK and Irish confectionery manufacturers can have shelf stand out appeal with a gold pigment, based on silicate combined with titanium dioxide, claims ingredients supplier Azelis/S. Black, which is now distributing the Merck developed colour in those markets.

Azelis/S. Black said that Merck KGaA developed its Candurin Gold Sparkle based on a growing demand by global food and beverage manufacturers for a large sized gold pigment, following the success of its Candurin Silver Sparkle.

The distributor said that the confectionery applications for the non-artificial gold pigment range from chocolates to fruit gums, boiled sweets, lollipops, soft panned products and liquorice.

The company explained that the gold pigment has particle size distribution ranging from 10 to 150 µm and thus provides a bright glitter that allows for innovative product design and differentiation, and, moreover, is stable and easy to add to existing formulations, including confectionery applications with additional colours.

Formulation

Merck KGaA explained that high boiled sweets and lollipops can be coloured with Candurin pigments either by addition into the candy mass itself or by pre-colouring the candy moulds prior to depositing.

But due to their reduced transparency, a direct application of the pigment into products such as starch-based wine gums or liquorice is not possible, and instead the Candurin colour should be mixed with a liquid mixture containing a transparent binder and then applied on the surface of these finished products by spraying or pouring methods.

"Generally the spraying of these mixtures results in quite uniform and very shiny pearl effects whereas the pouring gives rise to more irregular, marbled pearl effects," said the developer.

Labelling

Russell Wheeler, technical sales manager, at Azelis/S. Black told ConfectioneryNews.com that some of the Candurin colours combine both titanium dioxide and iron oxide, and both must be labelled on finished product packs, while other colours in the range are based on either titanium dioxide or iron oxide so only one name is required on pack.

He said that manufacturers can use either the actual names of the colours or the respective E-numbers - E171 and E172 - on the pack.

Wheeler explained that as the Candurin range is derived from mineral sources, confectionery manufacturers using the pigments can leverage the marketing advantage of the on-pack wording 'Does not contain artificial colours' when including them in their products.

This article was amended from the original published on 26 July 2010 to reflect additonal comments from Azelis/S. Black.