Colorants monascus

AS Immobilized cell action on MPI, Pigments (food colorants) Monascus purpureas Food industries [61... 

Colorants Obtained from Fungi by Biotechnology Monascus.340... 

COLORANTS OBTAINED FROM FUNGI BY BIOTECHNOLOGY MONASCUS... 

Monascus pigments have been used in Asian countries for centuries as food colorants and spices and in traditional medicine. These pigments are produced by the fungi of Monascus genus cultivated on carbohydrate-rich substrates such as rice, wheat, com, potatoes, and soybeans. Three species of Monascus identified are pilosus. 

Hajjaj, H. et ah. Production and identification of N-glucosylrubropunctamine and N-glucosyhnonascorubramine from Monascus ruber and occurrence of electron donor-acceptor complexes in these pigments, Appl Environ. Microbiol, 63, 2671, 1997. Jung, H. et ah. Color characteristics of Monascus pigments derived by fermentation with various amino acids, J. Agric. Food Chem., 51, 1302, 2003. 

Monascus is cultivated on solid media in Asian countries to produce a red colorant named Anka and used as a food ingredient. A Chinese medical book on herbs published in the first century first mentioned the terms ang-kak and red mold rice. Red mold rice has been used as a food colorant or spice in cooking. In 1884, the French botanist Philippe van Thieghem isolated a purple mold on potato and linseed cakes and named it Monascus ruber. This ascomycete was so named because it has only one polyspored ascus. In 1895, Went isolated a mold from the red mold rice obtained from a market in Java, Indonesia. This fungus was named Monascus purpureus, after which several other species were isolated around the world. 

Francis, F. J., Turmeric, carthamin and monascus, in Colorants, Eagan Press, St. Paul, MN, 77, 1999. 

Monascus colorants have been consumed for hundreds of years and are believed to be safe for human consumption. Tests with a series of microorganisms have demonstrated no mutagenicity. No toxicity was observed in rodents or in fertile chicken eggs. The yellow pigments have an LD50 for mice of 132mg/20g. No ADI is available.11 There has been some concern that some of the strains produced antibiotics which is obviously undesirable for a food colorant, but it is possible to choose strains of Monascus which do not produce antibiotics. 

MUDGETT, R. E. Monascus. Chap. 3 in Natural Food Colorants. Edit. G. J. Lauro and F. J. Francis. Marcel Dekker, New York, 2000, pp. 31-86. 

Sheu F, Wang CL, Shyu YT (2000) J Food Sci 65 342 Fermentation of Monascus purpureus on bacterial cellulose-nata and the color stability of Monascus-nata complex... 

The fermentation products of Monascus, especially those produced by solid-state fermentation of rice, have been used as food and health remedies for over 1000 years in China. Monascus rice products (MRPs) are currently being used as health foods in the United States and many Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Many studies have shown that Monascus spp. produce commercially viable metabolites, including food colorants, cholesterol-lowering agents, and antibiotics. The most important bioactive compound isolated from Monascus is monacolin K, which is identical to the potent cholesterol-lowering, antiatherosclerotic drug lovastatin, a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl... 

Only a few species of Monascus can produce monacolin K (Table 1). Since Monascus pigments and monacolin K are made by the same or similar polyketide-forming enzymes (Turner and Aldridge, 1983), the ability of various species of Monascus to produce monacolin K may be predicted based on its mycelia color. 

For the production of monacolin K-containing MRP on an industrial scale especially, we have successfully developed a fermentation process by cultivating a low-citrinin, high-monacolin K-producing strain of M. purpureus on rice in an aseptic rotary vessel to minimize microbial contamination due to the slow growth of Monascus. In brief, steamed rice was inoculated with M. purpureus with an inoculum of 100 spores/kg raw rice. The inoculated rice was cultivated at 30 °C for 5 days until the steamed rice turned a deep red color. The colored rice was used as "seed Koji." The "seed Koji" was uniformly mixed with steamed rice at a ratio of 3% based... 

Vandenplas, O., Caroyer, J. M., Cangh, F. B., Delwiche, J. P., Symoens, F., and Nolard, N. 2000. Occupational asthma caused by a natural food colorant derived from Monascus rubber. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 105(6 Pt. 1), 1241-1242. 

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