PRODUCTION and APPLICATION of NATURAL FOOD PIGMENTS by MONASCUS RUBER USING POTATO CHIPS MANUFACTURING WASTES

This work was established for using potato chips manufacturing wastes as a substrate for the production of food colorant pigments by Monascus ruber Went AUMC 5705, then it was utilized individually for coloring some food products (drops sweets). The effects of different environmental and nutritional factors were studied in solid state fermentation (SSF). The maximum concentrations of red, orange, and yellow pigments produced by M. ruber were 147.3, 179.6 and 221.7 U/g of dry fermented materials, respectively. The optimum conditions for pigments production were determined to be 50%, 6.5, 3 % and 15 days, for the initial moisture content, pH, (NH₄)₂SO₄ , and incubation period, respectively. Moreover, the optimum inoculum size, particle size of potato chips and fermentation temperature, were determined to be 81×10⁴ spores/10g dry substrate, 1.5 mm and 30 °C under dark condition, respectively. Then, the pigments mixture was separated into red, orange and yellow water insoluble pigments that used as coloring agents of drops sweets flavoured with fruits odours. This study revealed that potato chips wastes are an innovative raw material for pigments production by M. ruber in SSF.