Production of pigments by Monascus sp. in semi-solid fermentation

• Grant number: 99/11567-2
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: March 01, 2000
• End date: November 30, 2003
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Process Industries
• Principal Investigator: Beatriz Vahan Kilikian
• Grantee: Beatriz Vahan Kilikian
• Company: Germinal Indústria e Comércio de Produtos Químicos Ltda
• City: Diadema

Abstract

The present project proposes to set up a production process for organic pigments of microbic origin, to be used in food. Species of Monascus fungi will be cultivated in a semi-solid substrate made from the cassava root, this being one of the innovative aspects of the project, since the fungi referred to are traditionally cultivated through a rice base in China and Japan. The use of a low cost substrate, abundant in Brazil and non seasonal, constitutes an advantageous aspect over the traditional process. The implantation of a process under controlled conditions of fungus cultivation constitutes another aspect to be highlighted, since in the original countries the fermentation is carried out without controls, under appalling hygienic conditions. The obtaining of a product under controlled conditions would qualify it for entry to the market for food ingredients. It is estimated that the Brazilian consumption of the red pigments of Monascus, monascorubramine and rubropunctamine, is in the order of 500 tons of product per year, which represents a turnover of close to R$ 5 million. This consumption may increase when one considers that cochineal carmine and nitrate salts and nitrite are still being used, which give rise to toxicity due to the formation of nitrosamine. The present project, ultimately, aims to produce organic pigments, but social aspects - job creation - and technologies - implantation of a technological base for this and other processes of similar characteristics - will be taken into consideration. (AU)