It does look like mold with the added dye. I'm sure they were more concerned with the technical feasibility of using it with food safe dye than how it looked— w

It does look like mold with the added dye. I'm sure they were more concerned with the technical feasibility of using it with food safe dye than how it looked— which is fine. That's what engineers do. But that's why culinary school curriculums are a combination of art school and a trade school rather than a branch of applied chemistry, and why industrial food manufacturers employ chefs in test kitchens rather than having food scientists do it all. Aesthetics aren't a technical problem to be overcome— it's an entirely different mode of reasoning about something. Deep understanding of the underlying mechanics isn't required— it might actually be a hinderance. I'll bet doctors have an exceptionally hard time with life drawing, for example.