Lake colours, also called lake pigments, are a type of food colour produced by blending a dye with a substrate, such as calcium carbonate or aluminium oxide. This resulting pigment is not soluble in water and is typically used in products that have fats and oils, such as butter and chocolate. Lake colours by Alliance Organics LLP are highly stable compared to other food colours, which makes them suitable for products with a long shelf life.
We take great pride in the exceptional dispersion properties of our Lakes, which set them apart from the competition. We achieve this by producing our Lakes in specialized mills that allow us to precisely control the particle size, resulting in a product that offers unparalleled dispersion in dry powder mixes.
The even distribution of particles within a medium, or dispersion, is critical in determining the colour value of our Lakes. When a Lake is well dispersed, its colour is evenly distributed throughout the mix, resulting in a higher colour value. This is why we put great care into optimizing our Lakes for dispersion.
Our specialized mills use cutting-edge technology to break down the particles to the desired size, resulting in a product that offers exceptional colour dispersion in dry powder mixes. Our commitment to quality and innovation has earned us a reputation as a trusted name in the industry.
Whether you need Lakes for food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, or personal care products, our Lakes are the ideal choice thanks to their superior dispersion properties. Choose Alliance Organics LLP for Lakes, which offers exceptional quality and performance.
Low Dye or LD
12% to 18%
Mid dye or MD
22% to 30%
High Dye or HD
32% to 40%
Lake colours are water-insoluble pigments that are derived from water-soluble dyes. They are widely used in the food industry to add colour to various products, such as baked goods, confectionery, beverages, and dairy products. Lake colours are also used in the pharmaceutical industry to colour tablets, capsules, and syrups.
In the cosmetics industry, lake colours are used to add colour to a variety of products, such as lipsticks, eye shadows, and nail polishes. They are also used in the textile industry to dye fabrics, yarns, and fibres.
One of the primary benefits of using lake colours is their excellent stability, which means that they can withstand high temperatures, light, and pH changes. This makes them ideal for use in a wide range of applications where colour stability is critical.
At Alliance Organics LLP, we offer a wide range of lake colours, including lake Allura red, lake brilliant blue, lake carmoisine, lake erythrosine, and lake quinoline yellow. All our products are made from high-quality ingredients and undergo rigorous testing to ensure they meet the highest standards of quality and safety.
Wax Coating of cheese
Bakery Products
Pharmaceutical Tablets
Cosmetic & Care Products
Snacks and Seasoning
Spices
Coating on Chocolates
Allocol™ Lake Quinoline Yellow
Lake Quinoline Yellow
| E 104
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Confectionery Coatings • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Quinoline Yellow
Lake Quinoline Yellow
| E 104
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Quinoline Yellow
Lake Quinoline Yellow
| E 104
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Tartrazine
Lake Tartrazine
| E 102
F.D & C. No. Yellow 5 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Confectionery Coatings • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Tartrazine
Lake Tartrazine
| E 102
F.D & C. No. Yellow 5 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Confectionery Coatings • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Tartrazine
Lake Tartrazine
| E 102
F.D & C. No. Yellow 5 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Food • Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics • Confectionery Coatings
Allocol™ Lake Sunset Yellow FCF
Lake Sunset Yellow FCF
| E 110
F.D & C. No. Yellow 6 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics • Food
Allocol™ Lake Sunset Yellow FCF
Lake Sunset Yellow FCF
| E 110
F.D & C. No. Yellow 6 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Sunset Yellow FCF
Lake Sunset Yellow FCF
| E 110
F.D & C. No. Yellow 6 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Erythrosine
Lake Erythrosine
| E 127
F.D & C. No. Red 3 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Erythrosine
Lake Erythrosine
| E 127
F.D & C. No. Red 3 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Erythrosine
Lake Erythrosine
| E 127
F.D & C. No. Red 3 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Ponceau 4R
Lake Ponceau 4R
| E 124
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Ponceau 4R
Lake Ponceau 4R
| E 124
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Ponceau 4R
Lake Ponceau 4R
| E 124
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Food • Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics
Allocol™ Lake Allura Red
Lake Allura Red
| E 129
F.D & C. No. Red 40 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Allura Red
Lake Allura Red
| E 129
F.D & C. No. Red 40 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Allura Red
Lake Allura Red
| E 129
F.D & C. No. Red 40 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Carmoisine
Lake Carmoisine
| E 122
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Carmoisine
Lake Carmoisine
| E 122
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Carmoisine
Lake Carmoisine
| E 122
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Food • Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics
Allocol™ Lake Amaranth
Lake Amaranth
| E 123
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics • Food
Allocol™ Lake Amaranth
Lake Amaranth
| E 123
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Food • Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics
Allocol™ Lake Amaranth
Lake Amaranth
| E 123
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Chocolate Brown HT
Lake Chocolate Brown HT
| E 155
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Chocolate Brown HT
Lake Chocolate Brown HT
| E 155
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Chocolate Brown HT
Lake Chocolate Brown HT
| E 155
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Brilliant Blue FCF
Lake Brilliant Blue FCF
| E 133
F.D & C. No. Blue 1 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics • Food
Allocol™ Lake Brilliant Blue FCF
Lake Brilliant Blue FCF
| E 133
F.D & C. No. Blue 1 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Food • Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics
Allocol™ Lake Brilliant Blue FCF
Lake Brilliant Blue FCF
| E 133
F.D & C. No. Blue 1 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Indigo Carmine
Lake Indigo Carmine
| E 132
F.D & C. No. Blue 2 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 12% to 18%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Indigo Carmine
Lake Indigo Carmine
| E 132
F.D & C. No. Blue 2 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 22% to 30%
Applications: Cosmetics • Food • Pharmaceuticals
Allocol™ Lake Indigo Carmine
Lake Indigo Carmine
| E 132
F.D & C. No. Blue 2 Aluminium Lake
Dye Content: 32% to 40%
Applications: Food • Pharmaceuticals • Cosmetics
Synthetic lake colours are water-insoluble pigments made by binding a dye onto a substrate such as calcium carbonate or aluminium oxide. They give colour to fat- and oil-based products where a regular dye would bleed or separate.
Chocolate, butter and cosmetic formulations all run into the same problem. Standard water-soluble dyes just don’t hold in a fat-based system, and that gap is exactly where lake colours step in.
Alliance Organics manufactures these under its Allocol Lake range, built for food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic manufacturers who need colour that stays consistent over a long shelf life. Because the pigment is dispersed as fine particles instead of dissolved, it behaves nothing like a standard dye once mixed into a fat or oil base.
You’ll learn how lake colours are made, why particle dispersion matters, what dye concentrations are available, and where these pigments turn up across food, pharma and cosmetics.
A lake colour starts as a water-soluble dye that gets chemically bonded to an insoluble substrate, turning it into a stable, particle-based pigment. That structural change is what makes it usable in products a regular dye would ruin.
Since lakes don’t dissolve, they stay evenly suspended in fats, oils and dry powder blends rather than migrating or bleeding to the surface. Alliance Organics points to this as the core advantage: lake colours resist fading and separation far better than most colourants when shelf life is long.
Lakes trade solubility for particle stability, which is exactly what fat- and oil-based products need.
Dispersion, or how evenly pigment particles spread through a mix, decides the final colour value. A poorly dispersed lake looks patchy even when the underlying dye is high quality.
Alliance Organics produces its Lakes in specialised mills that control particle size closely, which is what keeps colour strength consistent across dry powder mixes. A well-milled lake spreads colour evenly through the whole batch; a poorly milled one leaves streaks no matter how strong the dye is.
Milling quality matters just as much as the dye itself for usable, even colour.
Alliance Organics offers three standard concentrations: Low Dye, Mid Dye and High Dye, so formulators can set colouring power precisely per batch.
Concentration | Dye Content Range |
Low Dye (LD) | 12% to 18% |
Mid Dye (MD) | 22% to 30% |
High Dye (HD) | 32% to 40% |
The full Allocol Lake lineup, including Lake Tartrazine, Lake Allura Red, Lake Brilliant Blue FCF, Lake Erythrosine, Lake Quinoline Yellow, Lake Sunset Yellow FCF, Lake Ponceau 4R, Lake Carmoisine, Lake Amaranth, Lake Chocolate Brown HT and Lake Indigo Carmine, comes in all three bands.
Three dye bands let formulators dial in intensity without switching shades.
They’re used wherever colour needs to survive heat, light or pH change better than a dissolving dye can manage, spanning bakery, confectionery, pharma and cosmetics.
Typical applications:
Lake colours also show up in textile dyeing for fabrics, yarns and fibres, well beyond their food-industry roots. Every one of these applications shares the same need: colour that won’t bleed, fade or shift during processing.
The common demand across every use case is processing-stable colour, not solubility.
Synthetic lake colours solve a problem water-soluble dyes can’t handle: delivering stable, even colour in fat-based, oil-based and long-shelf-life products.
Key takeaways:
For technical data sheets or dye-concentration guidance, reach out to Alliance Organics directly.
Lake colours are water-insoluble pigments dispersed as particles, suited to fat- and oil-based products like chocolate. Water-soluble food colours fully dissolve and work better in beverages and other liquid formulations.
Yes. Lake colours are widely used in lipsticks, eye shadows and nail polishes, and manufacturers like Alliance Organics produce them under regulated dye content standards for consistent quality.
Chocolate and other fat-based products have no water content for a dye to dissolve into. Lake colours disperse as stable particles instead, giving even, long-lasting colour a standard dye can’t achieve.
Dye content shows how much active colourant sits in the pigment blend, ranging from 12 to 18% in Low Dye grades up to 32 to 40% in High Dye grades, so formulators can control intensity precisely.
Lake colours hold up better under heat, light exposure and pH changes than many alternatives, which is why they’re the preferred choice for products needing a long shelf life.
Yes. They’re commonly used to colour tablets, capsules and syrups, valued for both visual consistency and stability across a product’s shelf life.
