Colorants

The use of colorants in food production and especially in meat products is clearly regulated. Artificial colorants are used in Europe only in special individual cases. 
The use of natural colorants can make sense for standardization purposes. The sale of reddened meat products in self-service packaging is a stress factor for the meat's own color. The color can therefore be stabilized by the application of light and heat-stable coloring substances. 
A natural colorant is carmine, which is also widely used in cosmetics. The use of colorants must be declared in all cases. The use of coloring ingredients must also be declared. Here, however, the addition "colorant" or the corresponding E-number is omitted. Beet and red radish extracts are mainly used as heat-stable variants.