# ? about food coloring

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-food-coloring/323323>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 25, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-food-coloring/323323 "2005-09-25T08:36:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wishbone\_Ash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Wishbone\_Ash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wishbone_Ash)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-food-coloring/323323/1 "2005-09-25T08:36:18Z")

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OK I notice that they don’t make certain food colors, but combine others to make them. Why don’t they make certain colors?

also some colors are called red “lake” yellow “lake” etc. What does the “lake” mean?

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-food-coloring/323323/2 "2005-09-25T10:12:04Z")

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According to [this brochure](http://www.ific.org/publications/brochures/foodingredandcolorsbroch.cfm), lake color additives are insoluble in water, while dyes are soluble.

Also, it sounds like it’s a long, expensive process to get new additives approved, so perhaps no one has bothered developing more colors because they can get the same effect by combining color additives that have already been approved.