ENTEG researcher Mark van der Maarel discovered a new blue colouring by chance. The patent application has just been published, but is unlikely to result in much. His discovery will benefit students though.

Blue wine was the biggest bar trend this summer. ‘The blue usually comes from a pigment in grape skins’, says Van der Maarel, Professor of Aquatic Biotechnology and Bioproduct Technology at the Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen . Other foodstuffs often contain synthetic colourings, which appear on the packaging as E131, E132 and E133. Synthetic colourings have recently gained somewhat of a bad name, and supermarket chains such as Albert Heijn and Jumbo have said that they will ban some of them.