Avaliação da substituição do corante sintético amarelo tartrazina por corante natural de Cosmos sulphureus Cav. em balas de gelatina

Abstract

The present study evaluated the substitution of the synthetic yellow dye tartrazine with a natural dye extracted from the PANC Cosmos sulphureus Cav. in gelatin candies. To this end, physicochemical analyses of pH and color were performed, along with sensory analyses of difference from the control and preference ranking. The pH results showed that increasing the concentration of the natural dye raised the average values of this parameter, indicating that the pigment exerts a direct influence on the final acidity of the formulation. In the instrumental color analysis, it was observed that all samples with natural dye showed significant differences compared to the synthetic dye standard, especially in the parameters a* and L*, which diverged with increasing concentration of the natural dye. Although the b* parameter showed a tendency to approach that of tartrazine as the concentration of the natural extract increased, it remained lower, reinforcing the difficulty in achieving the same yellow saturation. Nevertheless, the formulation with the highest concentration of natural dye showed the lowest ΔE, suggesting a greater potential for approximation of chromatic parameters with increasing concentration of the natural dye. Sensory difference analysis from the control corroborated these findings, since all samples containing the natural dye showed significant differences from the synthetic standard in the Dunnett test, evidencing that visual equivalence has not yet been achieved. In the preference ranking test, tasters initially showed a greater preference for the sample with tartrazine; however, when informed about the type of dye used, there was a significant change in behavior, where 72% of the tasters who had chosen the synthetic dye as their preferred option began to prefer some formulation of candy with natural dye. This phenomenon is associated with the health halo effect, in which information related to the naturalness of ingredients can positively influence consumer choice.