The most prominent industrial applications of carotenoids, considering their health benefits, are in the food, feed, and pharmaceutical industries.Ĭolor has a great influence on the appearance, processing, and acceptance of food products, textiles and pharmaceutical products. Subsequent purification steps are followed depending on the application.

After fermentation, carotenoids are usually recovered by cell disruption, solvent extraction, and concentration. Advantages of microbial production include the ability of microorganisms to use a wide variety of low cost substrates, the better control of cultivation, and the minimized production time. Carotenoids are natural pigments with important biological activities, such as antioxidant and pro-vitamin A activity, that can be either extracted from plants and algae or synthesized by various microorganisms, including bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi, and microalgae. Natural colorants are derived from sources such as plants, insects, and microorganisms.

However, many natural pigments present health-promoting activities that make them an interesting option for human use and consumption. Artificial colorants are the most used in food and pharmaceutical industries because of their advantages related to color range, price, resistance to oxygen degradation, and solubility. Pigments can be divided into four categories: natural, nature-identical, synthetic, and inorganic colors.

Food pigments ppt