FOOD SCIENCE ›› 2002, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (7): 139-141.

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Tendency of Research on Monascus Pro ducing Citrini

 LAI  Wei-Hua, XU  Yang   

  • Online:2002-07-15 Published:2011-12-31

Abstract: Monascus has beenusedtopreparered moldriceas anaturalfoodpigments andalsoas afooddisinfectantfor a thousand years.The physiologically active substance produced by mnascus has been researched widely.At pr esent,however,most of monascus,widely usedin industry,were proved to produce citrinin,which is a mycotoxin,accompa-nying with pigments and physiologic ally active substance,Kidney is the target organ of citrinin,resulting in not only teratogenicity and carcinogenicity but also mutagenicity.This review set forth the recent tendency of stud y about cit-rinin,including the physical andch emical properties,the toxicologic al characteristics,the detection m ethods and the kinetic analysis of red pigment and c itrinin production by monascus.Hen ce the method was suggested to inhibi t the ex-cretion of citrinin.

Key words: Monascus , Citrinin , Tendency