Ready-to-Eats

Food coloring is occasionally used in ready-to-eat products, such as frozen meals and packaged snacks, to enhance their appearance and make them more appealing to consumers. Some common food colorings used in ready-to-eat products include caramel coloring, which is used to darken the appearance of certain foods, and beta-carotene, which is used to give a yellow or orange color to products like margarine and cheese. In the United States, food coloring used in ready-to-eat products must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and must be labeled on the product's ingredient list.