In the last years, there is a trend towards the replacement of synthetic colorants by natural ones, mainly due to the increase of consumer demand for natural products. The natural colorants are used to enhance the appearance of pharmaceutical products, food, and different materials, making them preferable or attractive. This review intends to provide and describe a comprehensive overview of the history of colorants, from prehistory to modern time, of their market and their applications, as well as of the most important aspects of the fermentation process to obtain natural colorants. Focus is given to colorants produced by filamentous fungal species, aiming to demonstrate the importance of these microorganisms and biocompounds, highlighting the production performance to get high yields and the aspects of conclusion that should be taken into consideration in future studies about natural colorants.
Keywords: Biomolecules; Bioprocess; Filamentous fungi; Microorganisms; Natural colorants.