Supplier and Distributor

Natural Colors From Nature’s Palette

Re-formulating CPG food and beverage products requires careful consideration of many factors, including pH, light exposure, packaging and flavor. If you’re navigating the complexities of natural food coloring, our expert team is here to help with fruit-based color solutions from the earth’s prime growing regions.

Brothers International is proud to offer various fruit juices and concentrates as USDA Organic certified.

Products can be supplied as organic upon request

Popular synthetic dyes like Red #3, Red #40, Yellow#5, Yellow #6 and Blue #2 can be replaced with natural colors from fruits and vegetables.
The Foundation of Everything We Do

Our Global Supply Network

Natural color reformulation may start in the lab, but success depends on your supply chain. Our global supply network includes over 150 suppliers in over 30 countries and more than 700 customers. All our suppliers undergo a rigorous vetting process to ensure we work only with the highest-quality processors.

We can fully guarantee traceability, sustainability, and compliance with all international regulations pertaining to chemical residues and pesticides. We fully support the principles of responsible farming and aim to always do our part to help ensure the long-term sustainability of the earth’s natural resources.

The Reason We Do It

Our Customers

Our four Ingredients Divisions are proud to serve an incredibly diverse customer base. From emerging brands to the largest Fortune 500 CPG companies, we are committed to ensuring that every customer is supported with care, discretion, and the highest level of confidentiality. Our mission is to be a true supply chain partner – one you can rely on every step of the way.

  • Beverage Manufacturers

  • Food Service

  • Flavor Houses

  • Nutraceuticals

  • Baby Food Producers

  • Dairies

  • Food Prep

  • Breweries

What to Consider

Natural Food Coloring Solutions

Depending on your need, Brothers International can provide high-potency, standardized fruit and vegetable juice concentrates, purees, and specialty botanical extracts that deliver vibrant, heat- and pH-stable natural colors. Sourced from audited global agricultural corridors, our color solutions allow consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to comply with evolving state and federal regulations, eliminate synthetic warnings, and achieve clean-label declarations like “Vegetable Juice for Color”or“Fruit Juice for Color.”

Regulatory actions by the FDA, legislative bans at state levels, and shifting consumer demand are forcing a market-wide phase-out of artificial petroleum-based colors. Major retailers and consumer brands are actively replacing these synthetic color additives with clean-label, fruit- and vegetable-derived colorants to comply with new safety regulations and meet consumer expectations for natural ingredients.

Natural food coloring replacement combinations for synthetic dyes across the red and pink color spectrum (The list below is not universal, just a few possibilities that can be achieved with the right ingredients – contact us to help define the right color substitutions.)

  • Black Carrot + Red Beetroot: Delivers a vibrant ruby-to-magenta red. Black carrot provides low-pH stability in beverages, while beetroot adds depth to neutral-pH applications like dairy and gummies.

  • Red Radish + Apple Concentrate: Produces an electric pinkish-red shade. Radish anthocyanins offer high heat and light stability, with apple acting as a flavor-neutral carrier base.

  • Purple Sweet Potato + Red Cabbage: Yields a heat-stable, violet-red hue ideal for high-temperature baking, baked goods, and extruded cereals.

  • Tomato (Lycopene) + Beetroot: Provides a deep, warm brick-red suited for fat-based systems, sauces, dressings, and plant-based meat analogs.

  • Dark Sweet Cherry + Black Currant: Delivers a deep burgundy shade with natural tartness, popular in syrups, fruit fillings, and confectionery.

Natural food coloring replacement combinations for synthetic dyes across the yellow and orange color spectrum (The list below is not universal, just a few possibilities that can be achieved with the right ingredients – contact us to help define the right color substitutions.)

  • Turmeric + Yellow Carrot: Replaces FD&C Yellow #5 with a brilliant, golden lemon-yellow. Excellent for baked goods, pasta, and dry beverage mixes.

  • Beta-Carotene (Carrot) + Pumpkin: Offers a soft warm-yellow to light-orange shade that is highly stable in dairy, ice cream, and soups.

  • Annatto + Turmeric: Provides a robust cheddar-orange shade engineered for oil-soluble, high-fat processing environments.

  • Mango + Passionfruit Concentrate: Offers a soft pastel peach-orange that provides both natural color and functional solids in smoothies and sorbets.

Natural food coloring replacement combinations for synthetic dyes across the blue and purple color spectrum (The list below is not universal, just a few possibilities that can be achieved with the right ingredients – contact us to help define the right color substitutions.)

  • Red Cabbage (pH-Adjusted) + Purple Sweet Potato: Creates a denim-to-royal blue shade capable of maintaining stability across neutral-pH ranges.

  • Blueberry + Concord Grape Skin: Delivers deep indigo and royal purple shades for yogurt fruit preps, preserves, and fruit snacks.

Natural food coloring replacement combinations for synthetic dyes across the green and brown color spectrum (The list below is not universal, just a few possibilities that can be achieved with the right ingredients – contact us to help define the right color substitutions.)

  • Red Cabbage + Yellow Carrot: Yields an acid-stable lime-to-olive green specifically formulated for low-pH beverages and RTD teas.

  • Black Carrot + Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin: Produces a deep, rich forest green suited for mints, hard candies, and baked goods.

Beet NFC juice, Beet Juice Concentrate and Beet Puree from Brothers International.
Your elderberry NFC juice and elderberry juice concentrate supplier.
Take The Next Steps

Contact the Experts

  1. Connect – Email ingredients@brothersinternational.com.
  2. Discover – Identify the best natural color solution.
  3. Test – Evaluate samples in your application.
  4. Launch – Finalize pricing, availability, and lead times.

FROM ACAI TO YUZU

Natural Food Coloring Supplier

As a global ingredient supplier, Brothers International has unfiltered access to the various fruit juices and root vegetables to are used in natural food coloring across food and beverage manufacturing. Our team of ingredient experts work directly with our customers to determine the correct natural food coloring substitutions in existing formulations, as well as new products. Looking to get started? We can help.

The phase-out of synthetic petroleum-derived dyes and replacement with natural food coloring alternatives is driven by legislative, regulatory, and commercial pressures:

  1. State-Level Legislative Bans: The California Food Safety Act (AB 418) banned the manufacture and sale of FD&C Red No. 3 within the state (effective 2027). Similar legislative bills in New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania are moving to restrict Red #40, Yellow #5, Yellow #6, and Blue #1 due to links to hyperactivity and behavioral concerns in children.

  2. Retailer Prohibited Lists: Major national retailers and clean-label supermarket chains enforce strict ingredient blacklists that ban synthetic dyes from private label and branded inventory.

  3. Consumer Ingredient Scrutiny: Modern consumers demand transparent, recognizable ingredient statements. Replacing synthetic numbers with natural fruit and vegetable juices removes consumer purchase barriers and elevates brand perception.

Our team is able to provide nearly any variation of fruit and vegetable ingredients required to produce natural food color alternatives. The table below has examples that represent a fraction of our current capabilities. Can’t find what you’re looking for? We can help you source it.

Synthetic Target Natural Replacement Solution Pigment Class & Source pH & Heat Tolerance Clean-Label Declaration & Best Applications
FD&C Red #40
(Allura Red AC)		 Clarified Black Carrot Concentrate
+ trace Red Beet Concentrate		 Acylated Anthocyanin & Betalain
(Daucus carota / Beta vulgaris)		 pH 2.8 – 4.5
High Heat Stability		 “Black Carrot Juice (Color)”
Delivers an intense, stable strawberry/cherry red. The primary replacement for Red #40 in gummy candies, clear sports drinks, hard seltzers, and fruit snacks.
FD&C Red #3
(Erythrosine)		 Red Beet Juice Concentrate
+ Red Radish Anthocyanin		 Betacyanin & Acylated Anthocyanin
(Beta vulgaris / Raphanus sativus)		 pH 3.5 – 7.0
Moderate Heat (HTST)		 “Vegetable Juice for Color”
Provides an electric, bright pink-magenta hue. Used for maraschino cherries, cake frostings, dairy-free yogurts, and extruded cereals facing CA AB 418 bans.
FD&C Yellow #5
(Tartrazine)		 Turmeric NFC Juice / Decanted Extract
+ Clarified Yellow Carrot		 Curcuminoids & Lutein
(Curcuma longa / Daucus carota)		 pH 2.5 – 7.0
High Heat / Protect UV		 “Turmeric (Color)” or “Vegetable Juice”
Luminous, radiant lemon-yellow. High water solubility and heat resistance. Essential for clear citrus sodas, dry seasonings, pickles, pasta, and baked goods.
FD&C Yellow #6
(Sunset Yellow FCF)		 Orange Carrot Juice Concentrate
+ Pumpkin / Butternut Squash		 Beta-Carotene & Alpha-Carotene
(Daucus carota / Cucurbita moschata)		 pH 3.0 – 7.0
Excellent Heat Stability		 “Beta-Carotene (Color)” or “Carrot Juice”
Delivers a warm sunset-orange to mango hue. Completely stable against baking and retorting. Used in cheese preps, bakery glazes, RTD tropical juices, and soups.
FD&C Blue #1 & #2
(Brilliant Blue / Indigo)		 Spirulina Extract or
pH-Adjusted Red Cabbage Concentrate		 Phycocyanin / Acylated Anthocyanin
(Arthrospira platensis / Brassica)		 pH 5.0 – 7.5 (Spirulina)
pH 6.0 – 7.0 (Cabbage)		 “Spirulina Extract” or “Red Cabbage Juice”
Yields royal to denim blue shades. Spirulina provides clean sky-blue for confections, frostings, and ice creams; buffered cabbage provides neutral beverage blue.
FD&C Green #3
(Fast Green FCF)		 Turmeric Concentrate + Spirulina or
Clarified Spinach Concentrate		 Curcuminoid + Phycocyanin / Chlorophyll
(Custom Botanical Compound)		 pH 4.0 – 7.0
Low-to-Moderate Heat		 “Turmeric & Spirulina Extract for Color”
Vibrant lime to forest green. Eliminates artificial green dyes in hard candies, RTD matcha/mint beverages, gummies, and confectionery frostings.

  • Anthocyanins (Black Carrot, Red Radish, Purple Sweet Potato): Water-soluble, acylated or non-acylated flavonoid pigments. They are pH-dependent: intensely red and pink in acidic environments (pH < 3.8), shifting to violet and slate-blue as pH climbs past 5.5. Acylated forms offer excellent heat and light stability in high-acid beverages and gummy candies.

  • Betalains (Red Beetroot, Red Prickly Pear): Water-soluble, nitrogenous pigments that remain bright ruby-red across a broad pH window (pH 3.5 to 7.0). They are ideal for neutral-pH dairy, plant milks, and room-temperature foods, but are thermally sensitive and should not undergo long retort cooking.

  • Carotenoids (Orange Carrot, Pumpkin, Butternut Squash): Lipid-soluble conjugated polyenes that deliver soft yellow, orange, and warm red tones. They are highly heat-tolerant and unaffected by pH changes, making them the benchmark for baked goods, cheese sauces, and retorted soups.

Managing natural color performance requires controlling five critical formulation variables:

  • pH Matching: Formulate anthocyanins strictly in high-acid products (pH 2.5 to 4.0) to maintain the red flavylium cation state. For neutral applications (pH 5.0 to 7.0), use betalains (beet) or carotenoids instead.

  • Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) Interactions: High levels of added ascorbic acid (>150 ppm) can degrade non-acylated anthocyanins via oxidative cleavage and hydrogen peroxide formation. To prevent fading, formulators choose acylated black carrot concentrate or incorporate natural polyphenol antioxidants (such as rosemary extract).

  • Thermal Exposure: Minimize heat dwell times. Natural colors should be dosed after thermal processing, or processed using continuous High-Temperature Short-Time (HTST) pasteurization rather than prolonged batch heating.

  • UV Light & Oxygen Barriers: Curcumin and carotenoids degrade under UV exposure and dissolved oxygen. Utilize in-line vacuum deaeration and package products in UV-barrier amber bottles, aluminum cans, or light-blocking sleeves.

  • Water Hardness: High concentrations of divalent metal cations in municipal blending water can form chelate complexes with anthocyanins, creating unwanted purple-gray discoloration or sediment haze. Always use demineralized or reverse-osmosis (RO) treated water.

Clarified Black Carrot Juice Concentrate (65° Brix) is the global benchmark replacement for FD&C Red #40 in acidic food and beverage systems. Because black carrot contains acylated anthocyanins, it provides a vivid, true-red shade between pH 3.0 and 4.2 that closely matches the spectral absorption peak of Allura Red. It is ultra-filtered to strip all insoluble fiber and starch, ensuring total water solubility and optical clarity without causing sediment fallout or haze in hard seltzers, sports drinks, and gummy candies. It is declared clean-label simply as “Black Carrot Juice (Color)” or “Vegetable Juice for Color.”

  • Water-Soluble Concentrates: Clarified fruit and vegetable concentrates (e.g., black carrot, red beet, clarified turmeric) dissolve instantly in aqueous beverage systems, syrups, gummy candies, and brine bases without requiring surfactants.

  • Oil-Dispersible Emulsions: Carotenoids (beta-carotene, lycopene, paprika) and annatto are lipophilic. For high-fat matrices (chocolate coatings, compound confectionery coatings, buttery fillings, salad dressings), Brothers International supplies micronized, carrier-oil suspensions or food-grade water-in-oil micro-emulsions that disperse uniformly without agglomerating or spotting.

Every beverage and food formulation requires precise technical parameters to perform consistently on automated production lines. Beyond standard ingredient delivery, Brothers International supports your R&D and QA teams with comprehensive technical documentation and specification matching. We provide batch-specific Certificates of Analysis (COA), detailed product specification sheets, allergen statements, Non-GMO declarations, and heavy metal/pesticide testing.

Whether your product requires a specific pH range, custom titratable acidity, precise color intensity, or tailored seed filtration (down to specific mesh screen sizes), our technical specialists collaborate directly with your formulators to match your operational requirements. To accelerate your product development cycle, we maintain a rapid-ship sample program for bench testing and pilot-scale trials.

Navigating global fruit commodity markets requires proactive supply chain management and real-time market intelligence. Seasonal weather anomalies, shifting freight rates, and harvest yield fluctuations can impact natural color ingredient pricing and availability. Brothers International acts as a strategic procurement partner, offering market forecasts, crop reports, and flexible contracting structures—including multi-quarter forward contracts to lock in budget stability, as well as spot-market sourcing to fill unexpected inventory gaps.

As direct importers, we handle the complexities of international trade so you don’t have to. Our logistics team manages C-TPAT supply chain security, USDA/FDA import clearances, and customs brokerage to eliminate port delays. Backed by strict temperature-monitored cold-chain logistics, we ensure your frozen strawberry concentrates, purees, and essences maintain complete color, flavor, and microbial integrity from origin to your facility floor.