Colors, in general, have been used in food preparations for centuries. It is said that it was 2600 BC when natural dyes were found in China. Additionally, the Egyptians and Indus Valley settlers practiced dyeing. Among the dyes used in the early days were henna and saffron. The progress of civilization included the use of dyes in architecture, grooming, fabrics, and food. Natural food color can be defined as a dye, pigment or compound produced by living things or minerals capable of coloring objects, animals and drugs, cosmetics, beverages and foods. Food pigments are compounds that enhance, modify or restore the colors of foods and drinks. In some cases, they help improve taste. Furthermore, consumers derive one or more health benefits from their consumption. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Among the most used sources of natural colors are plants. The most obvious color-producing plant parts come from the stem, root, bark, fruit and seeds. A specific example is Leucosceptrum canum. It is a plant found in China. A distinct yellow pigment can be extracted from its flowers. It is used on foods ranging from candy, sauces, sausages, fruit drinks to carbonated drinks. There are different types of plant pigments. But in general four fundamental groups can be distinguished. They are betalain pigments, flavonoid pigments, isoprenoid pigments and porphyrin pigments. They all have their distinct characteristics and their problems or challenges. These issues affect the stability of plant-based food colors. Some may fade in intensity due to heat. Some may change when exposed to acidic environments while some may have shown insolubility towards certain substances. That said, manufacturing companies have these obstacles to face. They turned out to be inevitable due to consumer demand for natural products compared to production costs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also plays an important role in the purpose of using natural food colors over synthetic ones. Betalain pigments are further divided into red betacyanins and yellow-orange betaxanthins. However, only red betacyanins are used as food pigments. Betalains range in color from yellow to reddish-purple, but are limited to a single order of flowering plants, the Caryophyllales, which includes cacti, bougainvillea, carnations, some pitcher plants, and red and yellow beets. Phytolacca Americana L. is another source of betalains, but has been banned as a food coloring due to the presence of toxic saponins and lectins. Unexpectedly, betalains are also found in some higher mushrooms such as Amanita muscaria (flying agaric). They are not soluble in oil but are soluble in water. The color of betalains is insensitive to pH in the acidic to neutral range. The study and characterization of natural and artificial derivatives of betalains suffers from two important limitations. These are low solubility in non-aqueous media and hydrolytic instability in aqueous media. According to Slimen et al. 2017, betalains are chemically labile in highly acidic aqueous media or when the pH is less than 1 and alkaline hydrolysis occurs at a pH above 8. It limits most studies in aqueous media to slightly acidic conditions. Even at pH 5, thermal decomposition of most derivatives occurs within minutes at 100 °C. Maximum stability, however, is observed in the pH range 4-5. Furthermore,.