Elsevier

Food Chemistry: X

Volume 15, 30 October 2022, 100398
Food Chemistry: X

Pulsed electric field assisted extraction of natural food pigments and colorings from plant matrices

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100398Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Pulsed electric field (PEF) technology enables the extraction of food pigments at lower temperatures.

  • PEF process intensification may reduce the extraction yield depending on the plant matrix.

  • Coupling PEF with other emerging technologies is a smart strategy to extract natural pigments.

  • The application of PEF technology in natural food pigment extraction still requires further studies.

Abstract

Coloring compounds are widely applied to manufacturing foods and beverages. The worldwide food market is replacing artificial colorants with natural alternatives, given the increased consumer demand for natural products. However, these substitutes are still an issue due to their high production cost and low chemical and physical stability. Furthermore, natural pigments are highly sensitive to processes applied in conventional extraction techniques, such as thermal, mechanical, and chemical stresses. In this regard, pulsed electric field (PEF) technology has emerged as a promising non-thermal alternative for recovering and producing natural colorings from food matrices. Its action mechanism on cell structures through the electroporation effect is a smart alternative to overcoming the challenging issues associated with producing natural colorants. In this scenario, this review provides an overview of the PEF assisted extraction of natural pigments and colorants, such as anthocyanins (red-blue-purple), betalains (red), carotenoids (yellow-orange-red), and chlorophylls (green) from plant sources. Moreover, the potential and limitations of this emerging technology to integrate the extraction process of natural colorants were discussed.

Keywords

Non-thermal processing
Anthocyanins
Betalains
Carotenoids
Chlorophylls

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