Sustainable Production of Bioactive PigmentsPigments are compounds that are perceived by humans to have color. Pigments are considered to be bioactive if they have an interaction with, or an effect on, cell tissue in the human body and, as a result, there is more interest in bioactive pigments that render beneficial health effects on humans. Natural pigments are responsible for green (chlorophylls are the source of green in all plants and are the most abundant pigments in nature), yellow, orange, red, blue and purple colors in natural foods. Carotenoids, anthocyanins, and betalains are natural pigments that result in foods being colors other than green, and these pigments can offer potential health benefits to humans.
Traditionally, pigments are derived from plant sources but also, to a lesser extent, from animals and insects. Emerging sources of pigments are those derived from pigment-producing microorganisms and microalgae. Bioactive pigments are used as food additives, antioxidants, color intensifiers, and natural colorants, and the growing interest of consumers into the aesthetic, nutritional and safety aspects of food has increased the demand for natural food compounds. Continual prospecting of terrestrial or aquatic natural resources for natural food compounds - such as bioactive pigments - will impose a huge demand on these resources.
Globally, there is a huge amount of food waste generated from fruit and vegetable processing industries, and the utilization of this waste - with the objective to obtain bioactive pigments - should be encouraging research and development in this area. Emerging research to produce bioactive pigments includes the use of green technology for extraction, development of suitable host production platforms, and microbial fermentation.
This Research Topic aims to showcase the most recent research on the sustainable production of bioactive pigments such as anthocyanins, betalains, carotenoids, chlorophylls, azaphilones, quinones, etc. and welcomes the submission of original research articles, reviews, and mini-reviews on this theme. Potential subtopics of this collection include, but are not limited to:
• Extraction of bioactive pigments from fruit or vegetable waste;
• Extraction of bioactive pigments from sustainable sources such as microalgae, bacteria, yeast or fungi;
• Extraction of bioactive pigments using green technology such as supercritical fluid extraction;
• Microbial fermentation and synthetic biology research.
