Natural Colourants With Ancient Concept and Probable Uses

Research Article

Natural Colourants With Ancient Concept and Probable Uses

Tabassum Khair, Sujoy Bhusan, Koushik Choudhury, Ratna Choudhury, Manabendra Debnath and Biplab De

Corresponding Author : Biplab De

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India.

Email ID : biplab_32@yahoo.co.in

Received : 2017-02-20 Accepted : 2017-04-15 Published : 2017-04-15

Abstract : The majority of natural colourants are of vegetable origin from plant sources –roots, berries, barks, leaves, wood and other organic sources such as fungi and lichens. In the medicinal and food products apart from active constituents there are several other ingredients present which are used for either ethical or technical reasons. Colouring agent is one of them, known as excipients. The discovery of man-made synthetic dye in the mid-19th century triggered a long decline in the large-scale market for natural dyes as practiced by the villagers and tribes. The continuous use of synthetic colours in textile and food industry has been found to be detrimental to human health, also leading to environmental degradation. Biocolours are extracted by the villagers and certain tribes from natural herbs, plants as leaves, fruits (rind or seeds), flowers (petals, stamens), bark or roots, minerals such as prussian blue, red ochre & ultramarine blue and are also of insect origin such as lac, cochineal and kermes. Biocolours have tremendous potential of application in food products. India has a great opportunity for export of natural dyes due to its vast plant wealth and rich traditional knowledge of using natural colorants as dye.

Keywords : Natural colourants, biocolours, natural dyes.

Citation : Biplab De, et al. (2017). Natural Colourants With Ancient Concept and Probable Uses, J. of Advanced Botany and Zoology. V4I4. DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.1000203

Copyright : © 2017 Biplab De. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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