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Microbial pigments as an alternative to synthetic dyes and food additives: a brief review of recent studies

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Abstract

Synthetic coloring agents have been broadly utilized in several industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic and textile. Recent surveys on the potential of teratogenicity and carcinogenicity of synthetic dyes have expressed concerns regarding their use in foods. Worldwide, food industries have need for safe, natural and new colorings to add variety to foods and make them appealing to consumers. Natural colorings not only expand the marketability of the food product, but also add further healthful features such as antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer and antiviral properties. Novel microbial strains should be explored to meet the increasing global search of natural pigments and suitable techniques must be developed for the marketable production of new pigments, using microbial cultures, viz., fungi, and bacteria. To address the issue of the natural coloring agents, this review presents the recent trends in several studies of microbial pigments, their biological properties and industrial applications.

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Acknowledgements

This study is related to the project no. 1398/9812 from Student Research Committee, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. We also appreciate the “Student Research Committee” and “Research & Technology Chancellor” in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences for their financial support of this work. Laurent Dufossé deeply thanks the Conseil Régional de La Réunion, Indian Ocean, for continuous financial support of research projects dedicated to microbial pigments and shows gratitude to Mireille Fouillaud and Yanis Caro for many years of close association in microbial pigments research

Funding

This study is related to the project NO. 1398/9812 from Student Research Committee, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Student Research Committee, Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences, Food Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Masoud Aman Mohammadi & Seyede Marzieh Hosseini

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Hossein Ahangari & Saeed Mousazadeh

  3. CHEMBIOPRO Lab, Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs Réunion Océan Indien (ESIROI), Université de La Réunion, Département Agroalimentaire, 97744, Saint-Denis, France

    Laurent Dufossé

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  1. Masoud Aman Mohammadi
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  2. Hossein Ahangari
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  3. Saeed Mousazadeh
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  4. Seyede Marzieh Hosseini
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MAM had the idea for the article, MAM and HA performed the literature search and data analysis, MAM, HA and SM drafted and critically revised the work. SMH and LD reviewed the manuscript and provided technical assistance to keep the manuscript on track.

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Correspondence to Seyede Marzieh Hosseini or Laurent Dufossé.

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Aman Mohammadi, M., Ahangari, H., Mousazadeh, S. et al. Microbial pigments as an alternative to synthetic dyes and food additives: a brief review of recent studies. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 45, 1–12 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-021-02621-8

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