Blue raspberry is a manufactured flavoring and food coloring for candy, snack foods, syrups, and soft drinks.[1][2][3] The flavor does not derive from any species of raspberry, but rather was developed using esters that are part of the flavor profile of pineapple, banana and cherry.[2] Sugar is commonly added to create taste appeal for the blue raspberry flavor.[2]
Food products labeled as blue raspberry flavor are commonly dyed with a bright blue synthetic food coloring, such as brilliant blue FCF (also called FD&C Blue No. 1) or European food coloring number E133.[4] The blue color was used to differentiate raspberry-flavored foods from cherry-, watermelon-, and strawberry-flavored foods, each of which is typically red.[1][2] The use of blue dye also partially is due to the FDA's 1976 banning of amaranth-based Red Dye No. 2, which had previously been heavily used in raspberry-flavored products.[2][3]
History
Blue raspberry flavoring debuted commercially in the United States in 1958 with Gold Medal's snow cone syrup. Its wider adoption followed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 1969 approval of FD&C Blue No. 1. This regulatory change encouraged other companies, including The Icee Company and Otter Pops, to introduce blue raspberry products in the early 1970s.[2][3]
See also
Rubus leucodermis - a fruit-bearing plant that is sometimes called the "blue raspberry"
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