Colored Dairy Products with Natural Food Coloring

Colored Dairy Products with Natural Food Dyes Four academics from Amasya University are aiming to produce dairy products in red and yellow colors that will make children love milk and dairy products, through projects they are conducting in the ÇORUM Technology Development Zone (TEKNOKENT) with KOSGEB support. Prof. Dr. Tuba Yıldırım, a biotechnology specialist from Amasya University; Prof. Dr. Arif Ayar, genetics specialist; Dr. Ebru Batı Ay, who works on medicinal aromatic plants; and Dr. Şirin Oba İlter, who conducts research on probiotic products, founded a company in Çorum TEKNOKENT in 2020 with the aim of developing healthy food products. With the support of Çorum KOSGEB Provincial Directorate, in the first year the academics developed probiotic products through the "Probiotic Instant Chocolate Beverage Production Project" and succeeded in producing natural dye with enhanced antioxidant content from safflower plants through the "Production of Natural Dye with Enhanced Antioxidant Content from Industrial Safflower Plant Project." Using data obtained from these two R&D projects, the academics implemented a product development project titled "Production of Dairy Products Containing Natural Food Dyes and Probiotics."

Within the scope of the project, it is aimed to produce dairy products such as yogurt, ayran, and labne cheese that are colored with natural food dyes and enriched with probiotics.

  Yıldırım stated that the dye they developed in yellow and red colors from safflower plants is harmless and is a natural product with enhanced antioxidant properties, saying "Our primary objective is to make children love milk and dairy products with this product, by utilizing the different pigment properties of naturally sourced food dyes so that children consume milk and dairy products that have no toxic effects, possess natural dye properties, are formulated into capsules containing probiotic characteristics, and contain beneficial bacteria that are friendly to the intestines." Yıldırım noted that laboratory work on the project is continuing and they are conducting trials at a dairy processing facility in Amasya, saying "We can produce products such as yogurt, ayran, and labne in yellow and red colors that we believe could appeal to children. We will conduct the necessary tests to determine taste and sensory analyses, and to establish the residence time of probiotic substances in the intestines." Emphasizing that colored food products exist on the market but the product they are working on is different from a health perspective, Yıldırım said "Such products exist on different product lines of various companies, but we have not come across colored dairy products with enhanced antioxidant properties. We embarked on this path with the target group of making children love milk and dairy products." Source