Dear Colleagues,

Attractive and stable colour is an important factor in the marketability and sensory evaluation of food products. Pigments have been utilized to provide and enhance the appeal of foods since the beginning of recorded history. Synthetic pigments have commonly been used in the food industry, but the safety issues led to a reduction in the arsenal of permitted colorants, followed by a general tendency of consumers to reduce non-natural components in their diet. Due to this limitation and the worldwide tendency towards the consumption of natural products, the interest in naturally derived colorants has increased significantly. Natural pigments can be obtained from sources like plants, microalgae, insects, and microorganisms and cover a wide range of the visible light spectrum depending on the extraction source, pH, and interaction with food matrix. Compounds within each of the major chemical classes often express multiple hues, such as flavonoids ranging from red to blue vs. pyrrole derivatives expressing red and green colours and carotenoids responsible for yellow-orange hues. The replacement of synthetic dyes with natural colorants is a challenging goal that considers parameters like stability and solubility with respect to light, oxygen, temperature, and pH, among other factors. Besides the color attributes, the interest in plant and microbial pigments has intensified due to the possible health benefits linked with their antioxidant activity.

This Special Issue focuses on the antioxidative activity of nature-derived pigments, starting with the extraction and characterization of the pigments and resulting in their utilization in food and beverage products.

Prof. Dr. Avi Shpigelman
Dr. Zoya Okun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antioxidants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Antioxidative activity
• Food colorants
• Natural pigments