Carotenoids: Properties, Applications and Market

The increase of natural products demand has motivated the replacement of artificial colorants for natural ones, because, according to some researches, the consumption of artificial pigments can cause health damage. Carotenoids are natural lipophilic pigments, which can present the colors yellow, orange or red. They are widely distributed in nature in algae, plants, crustaceans, fishes, birds and microorganisms. These colorants can be applied in several kinds of industries, not only with the purpose of coloring, but also to enrich foods and even as food supplement components, animal feed, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In face of the carotenoid demand, it is estimated that the world market will move substantial amounts of money in the coming years. Considering this fact, in the Brazilian scenario, there can be an increase in imports, while the exports may remain as the last six years, with small changes, since in Brazil there are no investments on technology development for carotenoid production.