ABSTRACT
There is an upsurge of interest to produce natural food additives in view of increasing consumer preference and gradual phasing out of synthetic compounds due to biosafety reasons. Several countries are moving towards total adoption of natural food colours. Despite the demand for natural food additives, there are problems in producing sustained supplies of the same through conventional cultivation methods for several reasons, such as agroclimatic conditions, seasonal specificity and diseases. Therefore, there is a need to apply plant biotechnological methods of production, whereby plant tissue and cell culture offers an alternative method of producing food additives. However, the state-of-the-art of this technology permits production of just a few compounds namely those listed in Table 4.1.
