About this Research Topic
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.
Keywords: Sustainable Production, Bioactive Pigments, Natural pigments, pigments, green technology, food waste
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.