Solid coffee waste as alternative to produce carotenoids with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.

Special coffee production involves particular sensorial characteristics of the beverage as well as the production system of coffee beans, in particular environmental issues like water and solid waste disposal. Many countries around the world have problems with that waste disposal. The possibility to integrate the commodite production with suitable agricultural practices was the focus on this work using the solid waste to produce pigments by yeasts with biological activities. The better carotenoids production was tested previously in husk and pulp extract. The production of total carotenoids by yeast was 16.36 ±â€¯0073 mg L-1 was 21.35 ±â€¯0067 mg L-1, in the pulp extract and husk extract respectively. Carotenoids produced, exhibited antioxidant and antimicrobial activities against pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella colorless, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes as well as toxigenic fungi like Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, A. carbonarius and A. ochraceus. These characteristics of the pigments are important to replace the artificial ones commonly used in food and pharmaceutical industries allowing the consumers to choose more natural products at lower costs.