REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Food Microbiology
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Microbial-Based Solutions: Food Coloring, Flavoring and FragranceView all 10 articles
Basidiomycete Pigments as Sustainable Food Colorants and Stabilizers: From Fungal Biology to Industrial Potential
Provisionally accepted
Samantha Chandranath Karunarathna1
Saowaluck Tibpromma1
Wenhua Lu1
Rekhani Hansika Perera2
Entaj Tarafder1Baggya Sharmali Karunarathna3
Dong-Qin Dai1Jaturong Kumla4Chathurika Karunanayake5
Kalani Hapuarachchi6*
Nakarin Suwannarach4- 1Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China
- 2Zest Lanka International (Private) Limited, No.872, Wadichchalaya, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka
- 3Eastern University Sri Lanka, Chenkaladi, Sri Lanka
- 4Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
- 5Open University of Sri Lanka, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
- 6Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China
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Pigmented Basidiomycete fungi are emerging as multifunctional and environmentally friendly substitutes to man-made food coloring. In addition to their bright colors, pigments from these fungi, including melanin, pulvini acids, carotenoids, and phenoxazines, also exhibit potent antioxidant, anti-microbial, and even potential therapeutic effects. Fungal pigments offer greater stability under processing conditions compared to those of plant origin and can be cost-effectively produced by biotechnological culture, particularly agro-waste-based fermentation systems. This review provides an overview of the chemical diversity, biosynthesis, and extraction of pigments from food and non-food Basidiomycetes such as the genera Cantharellus, Pycnoporus, Boletus, Pleurotus, and others. Particular emphasis is on their applications in the food and nutraceutical industries, challenges in scaling up and regulatory aspects, and future prospects of fungal biotechnology as a renewably available source of natural pigments.
Keywords: basidiomycete pigments, Circular Bioeconomy, mushroom-derived food colorants, natural food stabilizers, sustainable food additives
Received: 15 Oct 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Karunarathna, Tibpromma, Lu, Perera, Tarafder, Karunarathna, Dai, Kumla, Karunanayake, Hapuarachchi and Suwannarach. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kalani Hapuarachchi, kalanifirst@yahoo.com
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