Phycocyanin: A Natural hashtag#Blue with High Potential—and Real Challenges

By Claudia Arteaga Cruz

Extracted from Spirulina, phycocyanin is one of the most exciting natural colorants available today: clean-label, antioxidant benefits, FDA/EFSA approved, and most importantly… it’s BLUE—one of the rarest hues in nature.

But here’s the catch: phycocyanin is fragile. It quickly loses color when exposed to light, heat, or extreme pH levels. That’s why its use is limited in baked goods, pasteurized beverages, or long shelf-life products.

How to improve stability?

Several strategies are being explored in R&D:

• Microencapsulation.

• Protective sugars.

• Blending with other pigments.

• Careful adjustments in processing and packaging.

Of course, developing these solutions requires countless lab trials and iterations—time-consuming and costly.

My recommendation: leverage data analysis and machine learning algorithms to reduce unnecessary iterations and cut down trial-and-error. Some companies are already using this approach with measurable results.

If you’d like to know how to start, I’d be happy to help.

#FoodTech #CleanLabel #NaturalColors #FoodInnovation #RnD #RDI #Phycocyanin #AI