By increasing the undesirable side effects of
synthetic food pigments on human health, using safe natural
food pigment become an urgent issue. Incorporate corn
starch with oils conducted a high impact on red pigment
production by Monascus purpureus. Fortification the
medium with sesame oil raised the pigment production by
80% and the dry mass by 63% compared with free oil
medium. Response surface methodology maximizes the
production with 114.6% (12.8 A500) using medium constituents
(g/l); Sesame oil 5; Corn starch 30; Yeast extract
1.5; KH2PO4 2.5 and MgSO4.7H2O 0.1. After evaluating
red pigment stability in three common food components,
citric acid showed a great effect on residual stability percentage
compared with ascorbic and salicylic acid which
decrease slightly the residual stability percentage at light
and dark conditions. The mitotic index of red pigment was
lower than the negative control at all tested concentrations.
Different types of mitotic chromosomal abnormalities e.g.
lagging chromosome, chromosomal bridge, chromosome
and chromatin fragments, outside chromosome,
chromosomal stickiness and micro nuclei were recorded.
Insignificant increase in total mitotic aberrations percentage
in all tested root tips treated with all concentrations of
red pigment (1.23, 1.58, 1.63, 2.32 and 2.40%) compared
with negative control (0.91%). There was a significant
increase in total aberrations percentage after treatment with
all concentrations (10, 15, 20 and 25%) of positive control
(2.93, 3.00, 3.55 and 6.53 respectively) except (5%) which
was insignificant (2.71%). From the previous data, this red
pigment can be used as an alternative safe pigment in the
food industry.