Abstract
Developing new colors for the food industry is challenging, as colorants need to be compatible with a food flavors, safety, and nutritional value, and which ultimately have a minimal impact on the price of the product. In addition, food colorants should preferably be natural rather than synthetic compounds. Micro-organisms already produce industrially useful natural colorants such as carotenoids and anthocyanins. Microbial food colorants can be produced at scale at relatively low costs. This review highlights the significance of color in the food industry, why there is a need to shift to natural food colors compared to synthetic ones and how using microbial pigments as food colorants, instead of colors from other natural sources, is a preferable option. We also summarize the microbial derived food colorants currently used and discuss their classification based on their chemical structure. Finally, we discuss the challenges faced by the use and development of food grade microbial pigments and how to deal with these challenges, using advanced techniques including metabolic engineering and nanotechnology.
Highlights
Color plays a significant role in the food production and processing sector, contributing to the sensory attribute of food
Most of the food coloring agents were derived from natural sources such as paprika, berries, turmeric, indigo, saffron, and various flowers [5, 6]
Possible side effects of synthetic colors like hyper-activity in children, allergenicity, toxicological, and carcinogenicity problems, has led to the banning of many synthetic food colorants further leading to a transition from the use of synthetic food colors, to natural ones [7,8,9]
Summary
Color plays a significant role in the food production and processing sector, contributing to the sensory attribute of food. Microbial fermentation for the production of natural pigments have several benefits such as cheaper production, higher yields, easier extraction, lower-cost raw materials, no seasonal variations, and strain improvement techniques to increase natural pigment [16]. These can have health benefits like anticancer activity, antimicrobial activity and antioxidant activity [1, 17]. Prodigiosin- Many strains of Serratia marcescens, produce a red pigment, which shows antibacterial, antimalarial, antibiotic and antineoplastic activity [34, 70, 107] It has been successfully applied as coloring agents in yogurt, milk and carbonated drinks [108].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
