Pigments play a major role in many industries. Natural colors are usually much safer when compared to synthetic colors and may even possess some medicinal benefits. Synthetic colors are economical and can easily be produced compared to natural colors. In addition, raw plant materials for natural colors are limited and season dependent. Microorganisms provide an alternative source for natural colors and, among them, fungi provide a wide range of natural colorants that could easily be produced cheaply and with high yield. Along with pigment, some microbial strains are also capable of producing a number of mycotoxins. The commercial use of microbial pigments relies on the safety of colorants. This review provides a toxicity evaluation of pigments from fungal origins for food application.

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Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can damage DNA, RNA and proteins which subsequently contribute to the physiology of ageing. As compared to synthetic drugs, antioxidants from various biological sources have shown to protect the cell from these effects and are relatively safer. In the present study, the in vitro antioxidant potential of methanol-extracted pigments of six fungal isolates from forestry soil was eva lua ted. T he pigments were a ssa yed for their 1 ,1-diphenyl-2picrylhydrazal radical (DPPH) reduction, ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and DNA protecting capability (supercoiled pUC18 plasmid DNA) against ROS inducing agents like ferrous chloride, stannous chloride, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and UV rays. The thermomyces pigments showed greater DPPH reduction (69 %) and FRAP (7.14 µM of Fe II) as compared to other pigments and, thus confirmed its ability to donate electrons. All the fungal pigments showed significant DNA protection against H 2 O 2 and UV rays while ferrous chloride-induced DNA damage was protected only by the pigments of Thermomyces sp. and Aspergillus tamarii. This study opens the possibility of using the fungal pigments as natural antioxidants for food industry.

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