Color additives are a necessity in the modern food industry. These additives
are colored because of their peculiar molecular structure, which also frequently imparts
other properties such as antioxidant activity. The natural diversity of microorganisms
offers several opportunities for the development of “biopigments”, which may be
produced with high productivity and without seasonality concerns. While the number
of artificial colors used foods is inescapably being reduced, that of permitted natural
pigments is slowly growing. It is not possible to simply isolate a colored
microorganism strain and use it as an additive: the color must be proven safe, and that
is why only a dozen pigments from fungi, yeast, bacteria and microalgae are already
permitted and are commercially produced. And yet, these few biopigments are paving
the way for new developments, where the knowledge that involves microorganism
isolation, bioactivity assays, biomass production and fractionation is used for the study
of new alternatives. This chapter gives a general view of permitted natural colors,
focusing on commercially relevant microbial biopigments and their production
processes.
Keywords: Arthrospira (Spirulina), Ashbya gossypii, Astaxanthin, Biopigments,
Blakeslea trispora, β-carotene, Chlorella, Dunaliella, Haematococcus,
Microalgae, Microorganisms, Monascus, Natural color, Phycobilin,
Porphyridium, Riboflavin.
