Strategies to enhance the production efficiency of Monascus pigments and control citrinin contamination

Monascus pigments (MPs) are the fermentation products of Monascus spp. They are widely used in the food industry as dyes, but are also used in medicine, cosmetics, textiles, and chemical industries owing to their antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities. Despite their widespread use, production of MPs still faces challenges such as improving production efficiency and reducing citrinin (CIT) contamination, which is critical for the healthy development of MPs industry. After a brief introduction to the applications of MPs, toxicity, and limitations of CIT, this review will examine strategies to improve MPs production efficiency and control CIT contamination of MPs. Particular attention is paid to new approaches such as using atmospheric and room temperature plasma mutagenesis (ARTP), microtiter plates (MTPs), and digital image analysis method (DCM) to achieve high-throughput screening of strains and obtain strains with low production of CIT and high yield of Monascus pigments, as well as regulating MPs production by modulating hyphae morphology of Monascus spp.