Planejamento de misturas aplicado ao desenvolvimento de corantes naturais

Abstract

The use of artificial colors is still common in the food industry, but their replacement with natural colors is a trend in the market, as well as acting as a dye, may also have health-beneficial properties. Ternary mixture design (Simplex-Centroid) was applied to natural dyes: encapsulated curcumin, hibiscus extract and spirulina extract. The mixtures were applied in three different pH (citrate buffer, phosphate buffer and yogurt) and analyzed by colorimetry to obtain mathematical models that describe the color parameters of natural dye mixtures. All models obtained were statistically significant (p < 0.05) and most of them have a good prediction capacity, i.e. they resulted in good values of R² and adjusted R². The mixtures presented a better performance in low pH values (citrate buffer and yogurt) when compared with high pH values (phosphate buffer). Spirulina extract did not perform well in the mixtures due to a possible interaction with the components of the encapsulated curcumin and hibiscus extract, causing precipitation and lack of homogeneity.