Plants and mushrooms as sources of bio-based food coloring, preserving and bioactive agents
Conference Paper
Overview
Overview
abstract
Food additives have been used for thousands of years to enhance food properties, safety and appearance.
Nevertheless, several of the worldwide used artificial additives have been related to potential toxic and allergenic
effects to the consumers, which has been justifying the growing interest in additives of natural origin that provide
colouring, preserving, and bioactive properties to foodstuff without hazardous effects [1]. In this context, several
plants and mushrooms have been explored as sources of natural molecules to be used as bio-based additives in
food industry.
Among the studied compounds, betalains (e.g. gomphrenin II, gomphrenin III, isogomphrenin II, and isogomphrenin
III) and anthocyanins (e.g. cyanidin, delphinidin, and malvidin derivatives) obtained from purple globe amaranth,
rose, dahlia, centaurea, strawberry-tree, roselle, and blueberry were incorporated in ice-cream, yogurt, and waffles
for colouring purposes [e.g. 2].
Otherwise, preserving molecules such as flavonoids (e.g. catechin, and quercetin and luteolin derivatives), phenolic
acids (e.g. rosmarinic, chicoric, lithospermic, caffeic, and caffeoylquinic acids), and hydrolysable tannins (e.g.
trigalloyl-HHDP-glucoside) were extracted from strawberry-tree, basil, lemon balm, sweet chestnut flowers, fennel,
and German chamomile, and were tested in loaf bread, cupcakes, yogurt, cheese, and cottage cheese, namely [e.g.
3].
On the other hand, phenolic acids (e.g. rosmarinic acid), flavonoids (e.g. quercetin derivatives), and ellagitannins
(e.g. sanguiin H-10 and lambertianin) from mushrooms, wild strawberry, rosemary, mountain sandwort, and flowers
of silva brava demonstrated bioactive properties when introduced in gelatin, yogurt, and cottage cheese [e.g. 4]. Therefore, natural sources such as plants and mushrooms seem to be a valuable alternative for food additives
exploitation, with proven efficacy in different food matrices.
This work is funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds (FEEI) through the Regional Operational
Program North 2020, within the scope of Project Mobilizador ValorNatural® and Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-023289: DeCodE
