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Economically Sustainable Production Methodologies for Food Grade Colors from Bixa Orellana Seed

Hari Pada Seal
Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh

Md. Solaiman Ali Fakir
Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh

N. Borman
Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Food colorants isolated from seeds of Bixa orellana or annatto appears as a unique one for food and drug industries owing to its potential uses. It has a very high commercial and medicinal value in domestic and international markets. This annatto dye is orange-red and deep red colored dye present as a thin layer with wax, gum and some other very few compounds on the seed coat of mature fruit. This is non-toxic natural food color insoluble in water but soluble in edible oil and some organic solvents. The principal color pigment in annatto dye is an appocaretenoid molecule known as bixin. Though bixin is insoluble in water but can be converted into water-soluble form by careful hydrolysis. These water-soluble forms can be isolated from other associated materials by several physical means. As food additives particularly we need both water and edible oil-soluble forms. Naturally, annatto dye is water-insoluble but insoluble in edible oils. So, our objectives of the present research work were to separate bixin from other impurities, make it water-soluble and considerably stable form for practical use. Accordingly, economic and health-friendly extraction and isolation procedures for bixin from seed coat were developed. Economic and health-friendly procedures for the conversion of bixin into water-soluble form and also solid form were developed. Isolated bixin solid is an edible oil-soluble form. The toxicity of the product was investigated in an authorized institute. No toxicity was found. The presence of toxic metallic content in the product was also investigated. All the metals were found to below the international permissible limits for a human being. So economically sustainable and health-friendly technology for different forms of annatto food colors has developed in the present research work. Thin layer chromatographic study, Ultraviolet (UV) and Infrared spectroscopic of the products were also carried out to identify the compounds and their functional nature.

Keywords: Natural food colors, Bixin, Isolation, Hydrolysis, Toxicity

Location: Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Commodity: Fortified food

Objectives:

To Determine the Economically Sustainable Production Methodologies for Food Grade Colors from Bixa orellana Seed

Methodology:

The extraction of annatto color from the seeds of the fruit of the Bixa orellana L. tree is done in one or more approved, food grade materials which include various solvents, edible vegetable oils and fats, as well as alkaline aqueous and alcohol solutions. Health-friendly economic natural food colors are crying socio-economic need for us at the present time. Our prime objective was to develop a simple, economically sustainable and health-friendly technology for the production of a different form of food-grade color from Bixa seed. To fulfill the above objectives, we avoided organic solvents, any hard treatment by any harmful chemical as per as possible during the development of our technologies. The color pigment was extracted from annatto seed in an aqueous medium at suitable high P^H and at moderate temperature. Moderate abrasion can apply. The major difficulty of such extraction is emulsification. Once an emulsion formed, it is difficult to break it to get the bixin and nor-Bixin precipitate. For smooth extraction by aqueous medium the concentration of the alkaline agent, time of extraction, P^H of the medium, temperature and even the extent of abrasion are important. Precipitation is carried out by decreasing P^H of the extract by the addition of mineral acid solution. In this step also emulsification is a major obstacle. To prevent emulsification, and for smooth and complete precipitation, stirring and concentration of acid are also important. After oven drying of the precipitate at 60-70⁰ C for 6 hours the precipitate was de-gummed by stirring magnetically in a non-polar solvent like n-hexane for 4 hours followed by filtration. Hydrolysis: Hydrolysis of the precipitated Bixin to sodium or potassium salt is carried out by the calculated amount of alkali as 1.5 Normal aqueous solutions at a temperature of 80-85 ^oC for 4 hours. This results in a dark red-colored solution and pH are within 8-8.5. Neutralization: Sometimes the PH of the solution obtained after hydrolysis becomes higher than 8.5. If so happened, the PH may be decreased to the required range by the addition of a requisite amount of mineral acid. This solution form may be preserved for 1 year or more. Solidification. The aqueous: solution may be used as a liquid form or can be solidified for higher stability and easy handling and transportation to consumers. The aqueous solution was solidified by oven drying at 70-80^oC for 10 hours. Grinding: The next step is grinding in a suitable grinder and then sizing. Toxicity test: The solid product was tested for any toxicity in a recognized institute. No toxicity was found. Test for toxic metal: The presence of toxic metal in solid samples is estimated by the atomic absorption spectrophotometric method and compared with the permissible limit for a human being. The presence of toxic metals is far below the permissible limit.

Source of Information: J Bangladesh Agril Univ 18(4): 956–962, 2020 ISSN 1810-3030 (Print) 2408-8684 (Online)

Article Link (Online Journal): https://doi.org/10.5455/JBAU.124601

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Annatto dye is a natural food color. It does not create any health problems for human beings. Our market is flooded with huge imported synthetic food color and create serious and complicated long term health problems. The introduction of natural food colors like annatto food color will save people from destructive and long-term health problems. In the meantime, we developed economically sustainable and health-friendly technologies for different forms of food-grade color from Bixa seed. A country like Bangladesh is a very suitable place for the plantation of bixa trees economically. So, we can get a huge amount of bixa seed annually from such plantations in unproductive lands in any part of Bangladesh. The chemicals used for the post-harvest processing of bixa seed by our developed technologies to get food-grade color is very cheap and nontoxic. So, by simple technology, we can produce a huge amount of food grade color from bixa seed without expending any foreign currency. Again, natural food-grade colors are the demand of the age and indispensable for saving common people from the destructive action of synthetic food colors available in the market. Finally, since total raw material, chemicals and technologies are our own so we can expect very surely to supply these food colors at the cheapest price to common people.

Knowledge Management: Journal