Patented technologies in the extraction, preservation, and application of anthocyanins in food: A review

Color is an important parameter in food because it can be associated with quality. Since ancient times, natural dyes have been used in foods to make them attractive, but due to their poor stability to environmental factors and production processes, technologies emerged over time that led to getting artificial pigments with high stability, low production costs, and high dyeing capacity. However, some adverse indications of health damage have been reported, and that is why there is a growing interest in using natural colorants in food again. The red color is one of the most striking and important tones in the food sector since it is attractive, and it can produce expected taste sensations. One of the natural pigments that provide this red hue are anthocyanins, compounds that are widely distributed in plant sources, unlike artificial colors, have been associated with multiple health benefits. However, the application of anthocyanins represents a challenge due to their low stability against factors such as pH, oxygen, light, and temperature, so they are being stabilized through chemistry or physics way. This work aims to highlight the importance of anthocyanins and illustrate a summary of stabilization and conservation strategies used in patents applied in the food industry, as a methodological background to increase the use of natural pigments in diets.