When assessing coloring ingredients, the main question is whether such products are coloring foods or additives that require approval. If substances of natural origin, which are foodstuffs, are processed technologically (example: certain ingredients are concentrated by removing superfluous dietary fiber or reducing disturbing ingredients) then the products obtained in this way can also lose the properties of the original food. If the ratio of the ingredients to one another changes during these processes - in addition to concentration due to loss of water or odorous substances - the decision must be made as to whether such products have to be declared as food or additive. The decision tree should enable such products to be classified transparently. The following criteria must be considered for the decision tree:
Origin: There are a large number of starting materials for the production of coloring substances. In the case of substances of natural origin, a decision must be made as to whether they are food in the sense of Art. 2 Regulation (EC) 178/2002 or a food approved in accordance with Regulation (EC) 258/97 (Novel Food Regulation). Products of natural origin that are not foodstuffs and products made from them are to be regarded as additives . If the raw materials are not of natural origin, the products made from them are always additives. Treatment and technology processes: How products derived from food are classified further depends on the processes and technologies with which they are treated: Physically chemical separation processes are, for example:

 

• Extraction process with solvents or with water
• Processes that separate on the basis of the molecular size
• Reverse osmosis

Concentration through loss of water when exposed to temperature is not included. Without the use of physicochemical separation processes, the product is coloring food. In the case of selective removal or enrichment of one or more substances, it must be checked whether the end product is a traditional ingredient, ie coloring food (concentrate). Extraction: If there is no selective enrichment of coloring ingredients, the resulting product is usually a coloring food. Selective enrichment of coloring ingredients: Do the extraction process or other physicochemical processes lead to a selective enrichment of coloring ingredients and to a shift in the proportions of coloring ingredients to nutritional and flavoring substances compared to the starting material, in which the characteristic features such as smell or taste of the original Foodstuffs have largely been lost and the coloring properties dominate, the product becomes an additive according to Art.