The Role of Color in People’s Everyday Lives

Color is used in our lives to beautify our environments. Consumers express themselves and their personality using color. This comes through in how they decorate their homes, the color of the car they drive, the paint color chosen for each room in their home, the color of their clothing, the cosmetics they use or their hair color — all sorts of things!

Everyone has a favorite color, whether it is one you gravitate to when choosing clothing, or one that just imparts a certain feeling or memory. For example, when you consider the color blue, people often associate the color with tranquility, water, sky, openness or a sense of freedom.

When asked, most people are quick to tell you their favorite color. Their preference is typically linked to how the color makes them feel or how the color is linked to a past memory. At the end of the day, colors do, in fact, “color” our lives—by impacting what we’re drawn to, by helping us express our individuality, by adding to our sensory experiences, and even by improving our moods.

Science tells us that "taste" is a multi-sensory perception constructed from taste buds, visual appearance, aroma, and mouthfeel.

“Flavour is not just as simple as the way it tastes as all the other senses come into play, and some can dominate the brain’s interpretation of food. For example, we have found there is a clear difference in the intensity of flavour people experience when we play with the colour of a drink with a tasteless and odorless dye. It is the same drink but people think it tastes better."

Taste perception is influenced by color.

Dr. Fergus Clydesdale, currently a Distinguished University Professor, Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Director of the University of Massachusetts Food Science Policy Alliance, has stated, “Color is associated with many of our day-to-day decisions, including those involving food. The esthetics, safety, sensory characteristics, and acceptability of food are all a ected by color.” (Clydesdale, F.M. (1993) Color as a factor in food choice. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 33(1):83-101).

Color also in uences  avor perception and both formal and informal studies have shown that it is difficult to differentiate between  avors in the absence of visual “color” clues.

Consumers have strong expectations about the color of food products. Food products would look unappealing without colors, and consumers would not eat them. The color industry constantly innovates to ensure that these consumer demands are met.

Consumers judge the nutritional value and appeal of foods by color. No matter the type of food, if it looks unappealing, it is less likely to be eaten. 

Color can also reduce batch-to-batch variation to consistently deliver the same product to consumers.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration conducts rigorous pre-market reviews of food colors and continuously monitors information relating to their safety. No color additive is allowed in the market before the FDA completes an extensive safety evaluation.

The safety conclusions of the U.S. FDA align with that of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), widely regarded as the premiere international food ingredient safety program.

Why Colors Are Safe

Colors commonly referred to as “natural” are typically sourced from natural and renewable resources, supporting agricultural livelihoods.

At the same time, synthetic colors play an essential role in ensuring that the world’s agricultural supply is not exhausted.

While they are not nutritional, color additives play an important role in food, and they do so without posing a health risk to consumers.

Colors are often used in minimal quantities to provide the desired visual impact, enabling food producers to enhance value and visual appeal at little cost and, consequently, of little to no impact to the consumer.