Identification of pigments and volatiles from some cultivated culinary-mushrooms in Malaysia

Food colorants are frequently used to improve product appearance which affect consumer perception. However, the colorants used in the food nowadays mostly made from synthetic sources. Therefore, there is a growing concern about the safety and health implications of these synthetic food colorants as consumption of synthetic colorants gives several negative side effects to people. Mushroom with pigment is seen as a new potential source of colors in food application. In this study, the chemical and physical characterization of extract from Pleurotus djamor, Auricularia auricula and Flammulina filiformis. Mushrooms were studied to introduce mushroom as a new source of natural colorants. Results showed that 22 volatile compounds were detected which are responsible in the aroma, flavoring agent and act as bioactive. HPLC analysis suggests that the extracts possibly contain eumelanin and pheomelanin since the findings from FTIR analysis revealed the presence of functional groups such as carboxylic acids, alcohols, and amines in these mushroom extracts. The morphology for each of the extracts were amorphous and varying in size. The extracts also showed high solubility in sodium hydroxide solution compared with other solvents. These findings highlight the potential usefulness of mushroom in providing an alternative in food colorants industry as one of the sources in natural colorants.

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