Cochineal red production technology levelto be improved

　　China's National Health Commissionrecently released the 2022 "announcement on lactase and other seven"three new food", the announcement involves the expanded use oftomato red, carmine, new varieties of lactase and other new varieties offood-related products. Among them, cochineal is a natural pigment extractedfrom the dried body of female cochineal insects, the main component is carminicacid. It is understood that, at present in China is limited by the level oftechnology and other factors, cochineal red has not yet achieved large-scaleproduction.

　　Cochineal is a class of resource insectsparasitic in cactus-like plants, carminic acid is the most important componentof cochineal red, also known as magenta acid. Carmine acid is very soluble inwater, in water is dark red, can also be dissolved in other solutions, such asmethanol, ethanol, acetone, dimethyl sulfoxide and other polar solvents, andproduce different colors, but insoluble in ether, chloroform, petroleum ether,toluene, benzene and other non-polar or weakly polar solvents. The applicablerange of carmine acid pH is 2-9, and it presents different colors at differentpH values.

　　Carmine acid has good photothermalstability and antioxidant properties. Therefore, the Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) considerthat carmine has good safety in the field of food additives, and the FDA allowscarmine to be used in food as well as in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Inaddition, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, Australia andNew Zealand Food Standards Agency allow its use as a coloring agent in food.According to the assessment results of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee onFood Additives (JECFA), the allowable daily intake of this substance is 0-5mg/kg body weight. In China, carmine as a food additive has been included inthe Food Safety National Standard Food Additive Use Standard (GB2760-2014),which allows its use in frozen beverages, confectionery, baked goods, cookedmeat products and this application to expand the scope of use for seasoned meatproducts (raw meat with seasoning), and its quality specifications to implementthe Food Safety National Standard Food Additive Carmine and its Aluminumprecipitation" (GB1886.315-2021).

　　At present, the world's main countriesfor cochineal red production and technical research are Spain, Peru, Japan,Germany, etc., of which Peru is the largest exporter of cochineal and cochinealred, the main consumer countries are Europe, America and Japan. China in thelate 1990s, by the Chinese Academy of Forestry Research Institute of ResourceInsects introduced cochineal, and successfully bred in the southwest of China.The development of cochineal red in China is also underway, mainly focusing onthe biological characteristics of cochineal, ecological characteristics,artificial scale breeding technology, as well as the extraction of cochinealred pigment and the application of cochineal red pigment in the detection ofindicators. However, limited by the impact of breeding, separation and othertechnologies, China has not formed a related large-scale industry, carmine redhas been dependent on imports.

　　Currently, carmine is widely used in thefood industry for bakery and confectionery products, soft drinks, strawberriesand jams. In addition, the growing demand for colorants in the meat industry isdriving the continuous growth of this market. Market data shows that the globalcarmine red market size reached USD 47.2 million in 2021 and is expected toreach USD 68.5 million in 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6.1% from 2022-2027.

　　Industry insiders pointed out that if wecan analyze the big data of carmine genome, clarify the synthesis pathway ofcarmine acid, transfer the synthesis pathway gene into E. coli, and usesynthetic biology to create the production of carmine acid E. coli, we canrealize the "bacterial factory" production of carmine red, andrealize the indoor batch production of carmine It is also possible to add aprocess to remove allergenic proteins in the production process for commercialuse.