Appearance and Palatability

• Flavoring agents are added to liquid medication to mask the disagreeable taste.
• In “all natural” flavors, the exact chemical composition is not known.
• Artificial flavors are substances used to impart flavor that are not derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof.
• Spices are aromatic vegetable substances in whole, broken, or ground form, except substances traditionally regarded as foods, such as onions, garlic, and celery; whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutritional; that is true to name; and from which no portion of any volatile oil or other flavoring principle has been removed.
• The age of the intended patient influences the preference for sweet or tart flavors in pharmaceuticals.
• Coloring agents are sourced from plant dyes (achuete), minerals (red ferric oxide) or synthetically prepared (coal tar dyes, anthracene dyes, aniline dyes).
• The amount of coloring agents added to liquid preparations ranges from 0.0005 to 0.001% depending upon the colorant and the depth of color desired.
• Lake pigments are suitable for coloring products in which moisture levels are low and are commonly used in the form of fine dispersions or suspensions.
• FD & C lake is a pigment consisting of a substratum of alumina hydrate on which the dye is absorbed and precipitated.
• FD & C is used in food, drugs, and cosmetics.
• D & C is approved for use in drugs, some in cosmetics, and some in medical devices.
• External D & C is used in products applied to external parts of the body, not including the lips or any body surface covered by mucous membrane.
• FD & C Red No.2, also known as AMARANTH, is extensively used in foods, drugs, and cosmetics.
• Researchers in Russia reported that FD&C Red No.2 caused cancer in rats.
• FDA investigations and a series of tests resulted in the withdrawal of FD&C Red No.2 from the FDA certified list in 1976 because its sponsors were unable to prove safety.
• FD & C Red No.4 was approved for use in maraschino cherries and ingested drugs.
• FD&C Red No.4's approval was terminated because of unresolved safety questions.
• FD & C Yellow No.5, also known as TARTRAZINE, causes allergic-type reactions in many people.
• People who are allergic to Aspirin are also likely to be allergic to FD&C Yellow No.5.
• FDA requires listing of FD&C Yellow No.5 by name on the labels of foods and ingested drugs containing it.
• Preservatives are preparations that provide excellent growth media for microbes.
• Aqueous preparations include syrups, emulsions, suspensions.
• Semi-solid preparations, particularly creams, are suitable for preservation.
• Hydro-alcoholic and most alcoholic preparations may not require the addition of a chemical preservative, depending on the concentration of the alcohol in the preparation.
• Alcohol-containing pharmaceuticals, such as elixirs, spirits, and tinctures, are self-sterilizing and do not require additional preservation.