Toxicity evaluation of fungal food colourant from <i>Thermomyces</i> sp. in albino mice

Abstract

This study evaluates acute and sub-acute toxicity on albino mice of yellow pigment isolated from <i>Thermomyces </i>sp. for food

application to assess its safety in experimental animals. Oral feeding of <i>Thermomyces </i>sp. (0.5-5.0 g/kg body wt) to adult mice did

not show any symptoms of toxicity or mortality of mice. Oral feeding of <i>Thermomyces </i>sp. at 0.25-2.0% level (w/w) for 28 days

did not produce any significant changes in body weight gain of experimental mice compared to control mice. There were no

significant differences in relative weight of vital organs, hematological parameters and histopathological analysis between experimental

and control groups. Thus acute and sub-acute oral feeding of fungal pigment did not produce any toxic effects in male and

female mice.