Food grade microalgae-based biopigments and their production technique versus synthetic colorants

Abstract

In the food industry, synthetic color-active compounds can be added as additives to replace natural colors that are damaged during processing. This addition reduces the batch-to-batch fluctuation and increases the development of new or desired products that are appealing to consumers where natural colors are absent. Synthetic colorants cannot be produced by any bioprocess. In contrast, the Food and Drug Administration declared that algae such as Chlorella, Cryptothecodinium, Dunaliella Nannochloropsis, Nitzschia, Phaeodactylum, Schizochytrium, and Spirulina are trustable sources of food pigments as natural sources. These microalgae are photoautotrophic species and can be found on the "Generally Recognized as Safe-GRAS" list of food additives. Microalgae-derived pigments, which are also known as nutraceutical supplements, have been recently used in functional food products. Some of them are used as health and color supporters because of their excellent antioxidant properties that block oxidative reactions in lipid-rich food products. Their unique properties of being harmless to the environment were scientifically proven as well. As a result, the demand for their commercial use is increasing gradually. However, the bioprocess of algae on a huge scale is very limited due to some environmental factors and is hard to produce continuously. The scope of this review was to provide concise knowledge about biopigments extracted from microalgae and their production methods and to clarify the current implementations in the industry. Additionally, food-grade biopigments were compared with synthetic ones. The primary issues with bioprocesses used to produce colorants were highlighted, and as a result, the expected studies were discussed that would be conducted soon.