• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.76-81
• /
• 2008

Currently, natural food colorants and preservatives are being used for their general health benefits. Monascus koji, the product of certain fungi that grow on rice grains, has been added to many foods for coloring and preservation. In this study, the antimicrobial activities of Monascus koji ethanol extracts were investigated. Six Monascus strains (M. araneosus KFRI 00371, M. kaoliang ATCC 46597, M. pilosus IFO 4520, M. purpureus IFO 4482, M. ruber IFO 32318 and M. sp. ATCC 16437) were selected based on their relative intensity of red pigment. Two Monascus extracts, M. kaoliang ATCC 46597 and M. purpureus IFO 4482, displayed antimicrobial activities against Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium in concentration-dependent manners. The two extracts showed their strongest antimicrobial activity against S. typhimurium, a cause of food poisoning. Therefore, these results suggest that Monascus koji could be used as a natural food colorant and preservative.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.60-66
• /
• 1997

The characteristics and stability of pigments produced by Monascus anka in a jar fermenter were examined The pigments produced by the mold were fractionated into four pigments, i.e., extracellular red pigment(ERP) extracellular yellow Pigment(EYP), intracellular red pigment(IRP) and intracellular yellow pigment(IYP) by the solvent fractionation method. These pigments showed characteristic absorption spectrum indicating that they were composed of different components of pigments. Each of these four pigments separated from Monascus anka were stable under ultraviolet light, fluorescent light and in dark conditions, but their color was faded rapidly under sun light. They were also very stable against temperature below 8$0^{\circ}C$, above which temperature the stability of the Pigments was decreased rapidly. Among the eight organic acids tested, tartaric and citric acids were found to be detrimental against the Monascus anka Pigments. And Cu$^{2+}$ ion showed the most deleterious effect on the color change of the pigments.s.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.641-644
• /
• 2001

This study was performed for development of new analytical method of monascus pigments in foods. In this method, analysis of monascus pigment in foods has been carried out by detection of monascin and ankaflavin of the main color component of monascus pigment as indicator compounds. Monascin and ankaflavin were isolated and identified by TLC, HPLC, Prep. HPLC, $^{1}H-NMR$ and Mass spectrophotometer. The analysis of monascin and ankaflavin in foods such as massal, sausage, mixed press ham, mixed fish sausage, semi-dried sausage and syrup was performed by using reverse phase high performance liquid chromatograph with Capcell Pak C18 column at wave length 390 nm. The quantitative results of monascin were as follows : $0.01{\sim}3.31\;{\mu}g/g$ item in massal, $0.05{\sim}0.10\;{\mu}g/g$ in mixed fish sausage, and $0.34{\sim}0.35\;{\mu}g/g$ in semi-dried sausage. But the quantitative results of ankaflavin were as follows: $0.02{\sim}0.89\;{\mu}g/g$ in massal, ankaflavin were not founded in other samples.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.253-257
• /
• 2002

The time-dependent changes of red pigments production in solid-state plant scale fermentor using barley cultured with Monascus sp., instead of rice which was traditionally used, were investigated in this study. A steady increase in the yield of red pigments in barley occurred between the 3rd and 6th days. The optimized conditions (inoculation volume = 6∼8%, initial pH = 6, air supply = 0.6∼0.8 m) promoted the production of red pigments. Short-time steaming of barley (< 20 min) decreased fungal growth and pigments production due to the insufficient gelatiniza-tion. The optical density of the red pigments under the optimized conditions was 120 at 500 ]nm per gram of barley. In addition, the metabolites from the fermented barley with Monucus sp. showed antibacterial effects against Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. Barley was shown to be one of the best grain sources for solid-state fermentation with Monascu sp., fur obtaining natural pigments and also functional food materials.