Food Colorants

Food colorants are pigments or dyes added to food to achieve some objectives which include to maintain the original color of food, intensify the original color of food, and add color to a colorless food^[1]. The ultimate purpose of adding food colorants is to make food more attractive to consumers. At present, with the increasing demand for food colorants, synthetic food colorants have become very popular in the food industry. For example, tartrazine and carmoisine have been introduced into the market and are widely used to provide vibrant yellow and red colors. However, synthetic food colorants are notoriously toxic and have potential health risks to humans. Therefore, natural food colorants have begun to attract people's attention. However, the production of many currently approved natural food colorants has a number of disadvantages, including dependence on raw materials supply and variations in colorant extraction^[2]. Microbial metabolites provide a readily alternative source of natural food colorants that can easily be produced in a low price and a high yield^[3]. In addition, microbial metabolites used as food colorants possess many biological properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer activities, which are beneficial to human health.

Applications

The application of microbial metabolites as food colorants has attracted the attention of many food researchers. Two examples are listed below.

• Fungal metabolites used as food colorants

Fungi are known to produce an extraordinary range of colored metabolites such as carotenoids, melanins, flavins, phenazines, quinones, monascins, violacein, and indigo. Among them, Monascus are a group of azaphilonic secondary metabolites produced by Monascus spp, which have been used in China more than 1000 years. However, they were characterized as a food colorant by French Botanist Tieghem until 1884, which can show yellow, orange and red. After that, Monascus are widely used as natural food colorants worldwide. In the end of 2014, a total of 65 fungal metabolites had been reported as food colorants.

• Bacterial metabolites used as food colorants

Similar with fungi, bacteria also produce a wide range of colored metabolites such as carotenoids, melanin, violacein, prodigiosin, pyocyanin, actinorhodin, and zeaxanthin. The use of bacteria for colorant production has several advantages, such as short life cycle and ease for genetic modification. It has been reported that actinobacteria, such as Streptomyces, produces more colored metabolites than other bacteria. In addition, it is possible to modify bacteria to produce interesting metabolites with the desired color. For example, Streptomyces coelicolor, produces blue metabolites, can be genetically modified to produce a bright yellow, orange, or yellow-red metabolites^[4].

What Can We Do?

Alfa Chemistry has a profound research foundation in the field of food colorants. In our company, you can find the appropriate metabolites for the research of food colorants. Alfa Chemistry will serve you with the most abundant experience and affordable price. Please feel free to contact us if you have a need.

References

1. Ogbonna, C.N. Production of food colourants by filamentous fungi. African Journal of Microbiology Research. 2016, 10(26): 960-971.
2. Aruldass, C.A.; et al. Current perspective of yellowish-orange pigments from microorganisms-a review. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2018, 10: 168-182.
3. Mapari, S.A.; et al. Exploring fungal biodiversity for the production of water-soluble pigments as potential natural food colorants. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 2005, 16: 231-238.
4. Rao, M.P.N.; et al. Fungal and bacterial pigments: secondary metabolites with wide applications. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2017, 8: 1113.

Please kindly note that our products and services are for research use only.