Overview of Recent Trends on Non-conventional Approaches to Extract Carotenoids

Carotenoids are lipophilic natural pigments of high industrial interest due to their remarkable color and associated biological properties. Over the decades, food industries have used carotenoids as natural colorants to impart colors to food products by recovering the color lost during processing or providing attractive colors to new functional products. The same structural characteristics that confer color and interesting biological properties to carotenoids are also responsible for their susceptibility to degradation, especially during extraction procedures. Thus, developing reliable and sustainable extracting strategies must be stimulated to overcome the limitations imposed by the degrading factors of conventional extraction procedures. Therefore, this Chapter discusses non-conventional approaches that limit the exposure of carotenoids to oxygen, acidic media, light, high temperatures, and action of oxidative enzymes during extraction procedures, focusing on providing stability and increasing carotenoid yields in the extracts to be further used as food ingredients by the food or other interested industries.