Trends in Food Science & Technology 18 (2007) 252e259

Review

Biosurfactants in
food industry
M. Nitschkea,*
and S.G.V.A.O. Costab
a

Department of Microbiology,
EMBRAPA Food Technology, Av. das Americas,
29501, Rio de Janeiro, RJ CEP 23020-470, Brazil
(Tel.: D55 21 24109590; fax: D55 21 24101090;
e-mail: nitschke@ctaa.embrapa.br)
b
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology,
Institute of Biological Sciences,
UNESP/Rio Claro, Av. 24-A, 1515,
CEP 13506-900, C.Postal 199,
Rio Claro- SP, Brazil
The increasing environmental concern about chemical surfactants triggers attention to microbial-derived surface-active
compounds essentially due to their low toxicity and biodegradable nature. At present, biosurfactants are predominantly
used in remediation of pollutants; however, they show potential applications in many sectors of food industry. Associated
with emulsion forming and stabilization, antiadhesive and antimicrobial activities are some properties of biosurfactants,
which could be explored in food processing and formulation.
Potential applications of microbial surfactants in food area and
the use of agroindustrial wastes as alternative substrates for
their production are discussed.

Introduction
Surfactants are amphiphilic compounds containing both
hydrophobic (nonpolar) and hydrophilic (polar) moieties
that confer ability to accumulate between fluid phases
such as oil/water or air/water, reducing the surface and interfacial tensions and forming emulsions (Desai & Banat,
1997). The surface activity properties make surfactants
one of the most important and versatile class of chemical
products, used on a variety of applications in household,
industry and agriculture (Deleu & Paquot, 2004).
* Corresponding author.
0924-2244/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2007.01.002

Biosurfactants (bioemulsifiers) are a structurally diverse

group of surface-active molecules synthesized by microorganisms. Rhamnolipids from Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
surfactin from Bacillus subtilis, emulsan from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and sophorolipids from Candida
bombicola are some examples of microbial-derived surfactants. Originally, biosurfactants attracted attention as hydrocarbons dissolution agents, but the interest in these
molecules have been increasing considerably in the past
five decades as alternative to chemical surfactants (carboxylates, sulphonates and sulphate acid esters) specially in
food, pharmaceutical and oil industry (Banat, Makkar, &
Cameotra, 2000; Desai & Banat, 1997). The main reasons
for the spreading interest in biosurfactants are their environmental friendly nature, since they are easily biodegradable
(Mohan, Nakhla, & Yanful, 2006) and have low toxicity
(Flasz, Rocha, Mosquera, & Sajo, 1998), and their unique
structures which provide new properties that classical
surfactants may lack.
Most work on biosurfactants applications has been
focusing on bioremediation of pollutants (Mulligan, 2005);
however, these microbial compounds exhibit a variety of
useful properties for the food industry specially as emulsifiers, foaming, wetting, solubilizers (Banat et al., 2000),
antiadhesive and antimicrobial agents (Singh & Cameotra,
2004). Moreover, an increasing consciousness among consumers demands for reducing the use of artificial or chemically synthesized compounds by replacing it for more
natural food ingredients and additives (Shepherd, Rockey,
Sutherland, & Roller, 1995). Despite the advantages
demonstrated by biosurfactants, few reports are available
regarding their use on food products and food processing.
This paper discusses the properties and applications of
microbial surfactants which can be of interest for food
and food-related industries, providing also an overview of
the emerging fields for their employment and considering
the exploitation of agroindustrial wastes as alternative
substrates for biosurfactant production.
Classification of biosurfactants
Microbial surfactants are categorized by their chemical
composition and microbial origin. Rosenberg and Ron
(1999) suggested that biosurfactants can be divided into
low-molecular-mass molecules, which efficiently lower
surface and interfacial tension, and high-molecular-mass
polymers, which are more effective as emulsion stabilizing

M. Nitschke, S.G.V.A.O. Costa / Trends in Food Science & Technology 18 (2007) 252e259

agents. The major classes of low-mass surfactants include

glycolipids, lipopeptides and phospholipids, whereas high
mass includes polymeric and particulate surfactants.
Most biosurfactants are either anionic or neutral and the
hydrophobic moiety is based on long-chain fatty acids or
fatty acids derivatives whereas the hydrophilic portion
can be a carbohydrate, aminoacid, phosphate or cyclic peptide. Table 1 shows the major biosurfactant classes and the
microorganisms involved; note that bacteria are the predominant group of surfactant-producing organisms however some yeast species are also involved. Bodour et al.
(2004) have recently described a new class of biosurfactants named flavolipids produced by a soil isolated
Flavobacterium sp. The new surfactant showed strong
surface activity and emulsifying ability, and exhibits a polar
moiety that features citric acid.
Properties of biosurfactants
The main distinctive features of microbial surfactants
that can be of interest for food processing are related to
their surface activity; tolerance to pH, temperature and
ionic strength; biodegradability; low toxicity; emulsifying
and demulsifying ability and antimicrobial activity. These
topics are discussed below.
Surface and interface activity
A good surfactant can lower surface tension (ST) of
water from 72 to 35 mN/m and the interfacial tension (IT)
water/hexadecane from 40 to 1 mN/m (Mulligan, 2005).
Table 1. Major types of microbial surfactants
Surfactant class
Glycolipids
Rhamnolipids
Trehalose lipids
Sophorolipids
Mannosylerythritol lipids
Lipopeptides
Surfactin/iturin/fengycin
Viscosin
Lichenysin
Serrawettin
Phospholipids
Fatty acids/neutral lipids
Corynomicolic acids
Polymeric surfactants
Emulsan
Alasan
Liposan
Lipomanan
Particulate biosurfactants
Vesicles
Whole microbial cells

Microorganism
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Rhodococcus erithropolis,
Arthobacter sp.
Candida bombicola, Candida
apicola
Candida antartica
Bacillus subtilis
Pseudomonas fluorescens
Bacillus licheniformis
Serratia marcescens
Acinetobacter sp.,
Corynebacterium lepus
Corynebacterium insidibasseosum
Acinetobacter calcoaceticus
Acinetobacter radioresistens
Candida lipolytica
Candida tropicalis
Acinetobacter calcoaceticus
Cyanobacteria

Adapted from Deleu and Paquot, 2004; Desai and Banat, 1997;
and Rosenberg and Ron, 1999.

253

Surfactin from B. subtilis can reduce ST of water to

25 mN/m and IT water/hexadecane to <1 mN/m (Cooper,
MacDonald, Duff, & Kosaric, 1981). The rhamnolipids
from P. aeruginosa decreased ST of water to 26 mN/m
and IT water/hexadecane to value <1 mN/m (Syldatk,
Lang, & Wagner, 1985) however, some rhamnolipid homologues have demonstrated lower values (Nitschke, Costa, &
Contiero, 2005). The sophorolipids from C. bombicola
were reported to reduce ST to 33 mN/m and IT to 5 mN/m
(Cooper & Paddock, 1984). In general, biosurfactants are
more effective and efficient and their CMC (critical micelle
concentration) is about 10e40 times lower than chemical
surfactants, i.e., less surfactant is necessary to get a maximal
decrease on ST (Desai & Banat, 1997).
Temperature, pH and ionic strength tolerance
Many biosurfactants and their surface activity are not affected by environmental conditions such as temperature and
pH. McInerney, Javaheri, and Nagle (1990) reported that lichenysin from Bacillus licheniformis JF-2 was not affected
by temperature (up to 50  C), pH (4.5e9.0) and by NaCl
and Ca concentrations up to 50 and 25 g/L, respectively.
A lipopeptide from B. subtilis LB5a was stable after autoclave (121  C/20 min) and after 6 months at 18  C; the
surface activity did not change from pH 5 to pH 11 and
NaCl concentrations up to 20% (Nitschke & Pastore,
2006). The Antarctic psychrophilic strain Arthrobacter protophormiae produced a biosurfactant that was thermostable
(30e100  C) and pH (2e12) stable (Pruthi & Cameotra,
1997). Industrial processes frequently involve exposure to
extremes of temperature, pressure, pH and ionic strength,
hence there is a continuous need to isolate new microbederived products able to function under these conditions
(Cameotra & Makkar, 1998). The production of surfactants
from extremophiles microorganisms, has gained attention
in last years once the unique properties of these compounds
are of considered commercial interest.
Biodegradability
Unlike synthetic surfactants, microbial-produced compounds are easily degraded (Mohan et al., 2006) and particularly suited for environmental applications such as
bioremediation (Deleu & Paquot, 2004; Mulligan, 2005).
The increasing environmental concern among consumers
and the regulatory rules imposed by governments forcing
industry to search for alternative products such as biosurfactants (Cameotra & Makkar, 1998).
Low toxicity
Although few data are available in literature regarding
the toxicity of microbial surfactants, they are generally considered low or non-toxic products and therefore, appropriate for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food uses. Poremba,
Gunkel, Lang, and Wagner (1991a) reported that a synthetic
anionic surfactant (Corexit) displayed a LC50 (concentration lethal to 50% of test species) against Photobacterium

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M. Nitschke, S.G.V.A.O. Costa / Trends in Food Science & Technology 18 (2007) 252e259

phosphoreum 10 times lower than rhamnolipids, demonstrating the higher toxicity of the chemical-derived surfactant. When comparing the toxicity of six biosurfactants,
four synthetic surfactants and two commercial dispersants,
Poremba, Gunkel, Lang, and Wagner (1991b) found that
most biosurfactants were degraded faster, except for a synthetic sucrose-stearate that showed structure homology to
glycolipids and was degraded more rapidly than the biogenic glycolipids (rhamnolipids, trehalose lipids, sophorose
lipids). These authors also reported that biosurfactants
showed higher EC50 (effective concentration to decrease
50% of test population) values than synthetic dispersants.
A biosurfactant from P. aeruginosa was compared with
a synthetic surfactant (Marlon A-350) widely used in industry in terms of toxicity and mutagenic properties. Both assays indicated the higher toxicity and mutagenic effect of
the chemical-derived surfactant whereas biosurfactant was
considered slightly to non-toxic and non-mutagenic (Flasz
et al., 1998). The comparison of acute and chronic toxicity
of three synthetic surfactants (Corexit, 9500, Triton X-100,
PSE-61) and three microbiological derived surfactants
(rhamnolipid, emulsan, biological cleanser PES-51) commonly used in oil spill remediation revealed that PES-61
(synthetic surfactant) and Emulsan (biosurfactant) were
the least toxic whereas Triton X-100 (synthetic) was the
most toxic (Edwards, Lepo, & Lewis, 2003).
Rhamnolipid surfactants are presently produced at
commercial scale by Jeneil Biosurfactant Corp. (www.
biosurfactant.com) which offers diverse formulations for
different purposes. Recently, they developed a biofungicide
formulation to prevent plant pathogenic fungi that was
considered of low acute mammalian toxicity and nonmutagenic and was approved by FDA for use in fruit,
vegetables and legume crops. Additionally, the greater consumer awareness of adverse allergic effects caused by artificial products stimulates the development of alternative
ingredients, thus opening an excellent opportunity to
expand the use of natural surfactants of microbial origin
(Cameotra & Makkar, 1998).
Emulsion forming and emulsion breaking
An emulsion is a heterogeneous system, consisting of at
least one immiscible liquid intimately dispersed in another
in the form of droplets, whose diameter in general exceeds
0.1 mm. Emulsions have an internal or dispersed and an external or continuous phase, so there are generally two types:
oil-in-water (o/w) or water-in-oil (w/o) emulsions. Such
systems possess a minimal stability, which may be accentuated by additives such as surface-active agents (surfactants). Thus, stable emulsions can be produced with a life
span of months and years (Velikonja & Kosaric, 1993).
Biosurfactants may stabilize (emulsifiers) or destabilize
(de-emulsifiers) the emulsion. High-molecular-mass biosurfactants are in general better emulsifiers than low-molecularmass biosurfactants. Sophorolipids from Torulopsis bombicola
have been shown to reduce surface and interfacial tension

but not to be good emulsifiers (Cooper & Paddock,

1984). By contrast, liposan has been shown not to reduce
surface tension but used successfully to emulsify edible
oils (Cirigliano & Carman, 1985). Polymeric surfactants
offer additional advantages because they coat the droplets
of oil, thereby forming very stable emulsions that never
coalesce. This property is especially useful for making oil/
water emulsions for cosmetics and food. In dairy products
(soft cheese and ice creams) the addition of emulsifiers improves the texture and creaminess. This quality is of special
value for low-fat products (Rosenberg & Ron, 1999).
Evaluation of emulsifying ability of biosurfactants is in
general related to hydrocarbons such as kerosene because
of their potential in environmental applications. Few attempts have been made to evaluate emulsion forming
by biosurfactants with oils and fats used in food industry.
A lipopeptide obtained from B. subtilis was able to form
stable emulsions with soybean oil and coconut fat, suggesting its potential as emulsifying agent in foods (Nitschke &
Pastore, 2006).
A manoprotein from Kluyveromyces marxianus was able
to form emulsions with corn oil that were stable for 3
months; the yeast was cultivated on whey-based medium
suggesting potential application as food bioemulsifier
(Lukondeh, Ashbolh, & Rogers, 2003). The extracellular
carbohydrate-rich compound from Candida utilis was
successfully used as emulsifying agent in salad dressing
formulations (Shepherd et al., 1995). The use of yeast for
production of biosurfactant is interesting because these organisms are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and they
are already present in many food manufacturing processes,
on the contrary, products derived from bacteria such as the
opportunistic P. aeruginosa, still face some resistance concerning their use as food ingredients.
In some case, the emulsion, which is generated in one
part of the process, may have to be destabilized in a subsequent operation to develop a certain functional property
to the final product. De-emulsification can be of interest
in food processing specially when related to fat and oil
products as well as in waste treatment (Kachholz &
Schlingmann, 1987).
Antimicrobial activity
Several biosurfactants have shown antimicrobial action
against bacteria, fungi, algae and viruses. The lipopeptide
iturin from B. subtilis showed potent antifungal activity
(Besson, Peypoux, Michel, & Delcambe, 1976). A significative reduction on the mycoflora present in stored grains
of corn, peanuts and cottonseeds was observed at iturin
concentration of 50e100 ppm (Klich, Arthur, Lax, &
Bland, 1994). Inactivation of enveloped virus such as
herpes and retrovirus was observed with 80 mM of sur zel, Vater, Kamp, & Pauli, 1997).
factin (Vollenbroich, O
Rhamnolipids inhibited the growth of harmful bloom
algae species Heterosigma akashivo and Protocentrum
dentatum at concentration ranging from 0.4 to 10.0 mg/L

M. Nitschke, S.G.V.A.O. Costa / Trends in Food Science & Technology 18 (2007) 252e259

(Wang et al., 2005). A rhamnolipid mixture obtained from

P. aeruginosa AT10 showed inhibitory activity against the
bacteria Escherichia coli, Micrococcus luteus, Alcaligenes
faecalis (32 mg/mL), Serratia marcescens, Mycobacterium
phlei (16 mg/mL) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (8 mg/
mL); excellent antifungal properties against Aspergillus
niger (16 mg/mL), Chaetonium globosum, Penicillium
crysogenum, Aureobasidium pullulans (32 mg/mL) and the
phytopathogenic Botrytis cinerea and Rhizoctonia solani
(18 mg/mL) (Abalos et al., 2001). Sophorolipids and rhamnolipids were found to be effective antifungal agents
against plant and seed pathogenic fungi. Mycelial growth
of Phytophthora sp. and Pythium sp. was 80% inhibited
by 200 mg/L of rhamnolipids and 500 mg/L of sophorolipids (Yoo, Lee, & Kim, 2005). The mannosylerythritol
lipid (MEL), a glycolipid surfactant from Candida antartica has demonstrated antimicrobial activity particularly
against Gram-positive bacteria (Kitamoto et al., 1993). Besides their antimicrobial activity new biological applications of biosurfactants have been found and some reviews
concerning the potential uses of microbial surfactants in
biomedical sciences were recently published (Rodrigues,
Banat, Teixeira, & Oliveira, 2006; Singh & Cameotra,
2004).
Potential food applications
Although biosurfactants can be explored for several food
processing applications, in this section we emphasize their
potential as food formulation ingredients and antiadhesive
agents.
Food formulation ingredients
Apart from their obvious role as agents that decrease
surface and interfacial tension, thus promoting the formation and stabilization of emulsions, surfactants can have
several other functions in food. For example to control
the agglomeration of fat globules, stabilize aerated systems,
improve texture and shelf-life of starch-containing products, modify rheological properties of wheat dough and
improve consistency and texture of fat-based products
(Kachholz & Schlingmann, 1987).
In bakery and ice cream formulations biosurfactants act
controlling consistency, retarding staling and solubilizing
flavor oils; they are also utilized as fat stabilizer and antispattering agent during cooking of oil and fats (Kosaric,
2001). An improvement of dough stability, texture, volume
and conservation of bakery products was obtained by the
addition of rhamnolipid surfactants (Van Haesendonck &
Vanzeveren, 2004). The authors also suggested the use of
rhamnolipids to improve properties of butter cream, croissants and frozen confectionery products. Recently, a bioemulsifier isolated from a marine strain of Enterobacter
cloacae was described as a potential viscosity enhancement
agent of interest in food industry especially due to the good
viscosity observed at acidic pH allowing its use in products
containing citric or ascorbic acid (Iyer, Mody, & Jha, 2006).

255

L-Rhamnose has a considerable potential as precursor

for flavorings. It is already used industrially as precursor
of high-quality flavor components like Furaneol (trademark
of Firmenich SA, Geneva). There is great interest in obtaining rhamnose lipids to provide a source of L-rhamnose,
which already has an industrial application. L-Rhamnose
is obtained by hydrolyzing rhamnolipid surfactants produced by P. aeruginosa (Linhardt, Bakhit, Daniels, Mayerl,
& Pickenhagen, 1989).

Antiadhesive agents
A biofilm is described as a group of bacteria that have
colonized a surface. The biofilm not only includes the bacteria, but it also describes all of the extracellular material
produced at the surface and any material trapped within
the resulting matrix (Hood & Zottola, 1995). The first
step on biofilm establishment is bacterial adherence which
is affected by factors including microorganism species,
hydrophobicity of surface and electrical charges involved,
environmental conditions and ability of microorganisms
to produce extracellular polymers that help cells to anchor
to surfaces (Zottola, 1994). Bacterial biofilms present in
food industry surfaces are potential sources of contamination, which may lead to food spoilage and disease transmission (Hood & Zottola, 1995). Due to the fact that food
processors have a zero tolerance levels for pathogens like
Salmonella and also (in most countries) for Listeria monocytogenes, a single adherent cell may be as significant as
a well developed biofilm; thus controlling the adherence
of microorganisms to food contact surfaces is an essential
step in providing safe and quality products to consumers
(Hood & Zottola, 1995).
The involvement of biosurfactants in microbial adhesion
and detachment from surfaces has been investigated. A surfactant released by Streptococcus thermophilus has been
used for fouling control of heat-exchanger plates in pasteurizers as it retards the colonization of other thermophilic
strains of Streptococcus responsible for fouling (Busscher,
van der Kuij-Booij, & van der Mei, 1996).
The bioconditioning of surfaces through the use of microbial surfactants have been suggested as a new strategy to
reduce adhesion. Pre-treatment of silicone rubber with
S. thermophilus surfactant inhibited by 85% the adhesion of
Candida albicans (Busscher, van Hoogmoed, GeertsemaDoornbusch, van der Kuij-Booij, & van der Mei, 1997)
whereas surfactants from Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus acidophilus adsorbed on glass, reduced by 77%
the number of adhering uropathogenic cells of Enterococcus
faecalis (Velraeds, van der Mei, Reid, & Busscher, 1996).
Lately, the biosurfactant from L. fermentum was reported
to inhibit Staphylococcus aureus infection and adherence
to surgical implants (Gan, Kim, Reid, Cadieux, & Howard,
2002). The use of biosurfactants released by Lactobacilli
strains is very promising once these microorganisms are naturally present in human flora and have also a probiotic effect
(Singh & Cameotra, 2004). Much more research is needed

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however, to understand the contribution of lactobacilli surfactants in preventing pathogen colonization, the biochemical aspects of biosynthesis and their structural characterization.
Surfactin decreased the amount of biofilm formation by
Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella enterica, E. coli and
Proteus mirabilis in PVC plates and vinyl urethral catheters
(Mireles, Toguchi, & Harshey, 2001). Irie, oToole, and
Yuk (2005) demonstrated the disruption of Bordetella bronchiseptica biofilms by rhamnolipids and recently, it was
found that silicone rubber conditioned with rhamnolipids
reduced the adhesion rates of Streptococcus salivarius and
Candida tropicalis by 66%. The number of adhered cells
of S. aureus, S. epidermidis, S. salivarius and C. tropicalis
was reduced by 48% and the perfusion of biosurfactant to
adhered cells produced a high detachment (96%) of microorganisms (Rodrigues, Banat, van der Mei, Teixeira, &
Oliveira, 2006).
The use of biosurfactants, which disrupts biofilms and
reduce adhesion, in combination with antibiotics could represent a novel antimicrobial strategy, once antibiotics are in
general less effective against biofilms than planktonic cells;
the disruption of biofilm by biosurfactant can facilitate the
antibiotic access to the cells (Irie et al., 2005).
The promising results of these works, with medical focus,
suggest a potential application of biosurfactants for surface
conditioning in food industry, since both the surface
materials and microorganisms involved are of common
interest.
An interesting work regarding the use of biosurfactants
to inhibit the adhesion of the pathogen L. monocytogenes
in two types of surfaces classically used in food industry
has been conducted by the group of Meylheuc, van Oss,
and Bellon-Fontaine (2001). The preconditioning of stainless steel and PTFE surfaces with a biosurfactant obtained
from Pseudomonas fluorescens inhibits the adhesion of
L. monocytogenes L028 strain. A significant reduction
(>90%) was attained in microbial adhesion levels in stainless steel whereas no significant effect was observed in
PTFE. Further work demonstrated that the prior adsorption of P. fluorescens surfactant in stainless steel also favored the bactericidal effect of disinfectants (Meylheuc,
Renault, & Bellon-Fontaine, 2006). The ability of adsorbed biosurfactants obtained from Gram-negative
(P. fluorescens) and Gram-positive (Lactobacillus helveticus) bacteria isolated from foodstuffs, in inhibiting the adhesion of L. monocytogenes to stainless steel was recently
investigated. Adhesion tests showed that both biosurfactants were effective by decreasing strongly the level of
contamination of the surface. The antiadhesive biologic
coating reduced either the total adhering flora and the viable/cultivable adherent L. monocytogenes on stainless
steel surfaces (Meylheuc et al., 2006). Preliminary studies
regarding the corrosion effect of P. fluorescens surfactant
in stainless steel suggested that it has also a good potential
as corrosion inhibitor (Dagbert, Meylheuc, & BellonFontaine, 2006).

Considering the interesting properties demonstrated by

biosurfactants we can think on their future utilization as
multipurpose ingredients, which exhibit emulsifier, antiadhesive, and antimicrobial activities simultaneously and
thus, suitable for many food applications. Food processors
however, does not yet use biosurfactants on a large scale as
many regulations regarding the approval of new food ingredients are required by governmental agencies, and this process could be quite long. Nevertheless, an increasing
number of patents have been issued on biosurfactant (bioemulsifier) claiming their use as additives for food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products (Shete, Wadhawa,
Banat, & Chopade, 2006), demonstrating the crescent interest in using these microbial-derived products.
Biosurfactant production from food and
agroindustrial wastes
Another interesting approach for food industries, is to
take advantage of their by-products or residues as substrates
for biosurfactant production. Currently, the main factor that
works against the widespread use of biosurfactants is the
economics of their production (Makkar & Cameotra, 2002).
An important point that should be considered for development of cheaper processes is the selection of inexpensive
medium components which account for 10e30% of overall
costs (Cameotra & Makkar, 1998). To this end, good components seem to be agroindustrial by-products or wastes,
once these residues generally contain high levels of carbohydrates or lipids to support growth and surfactant synthesis; moreover, the treatment and disposal costs for these
residues are significant to industries which are invariably
searching for alternatives to reduce, reuse, recycle and
valorize their wastes.
The advantages of wastes materials are the huge surpluses and the possibility of production in regions with
temperate to tropical climates (Mercade & Manresa,
1994). Thus, the research on alternative low-cost substrates
is mainly centered on tropical agroindustrial crops and residues. Some attempts at using wastes for biosurfactant production and only a few types of surfactant produced from
wastes have been published. The main alternative sources
for biosurfactant production comprise oily residues, milk
and distillery wastes, and carbohydrate-rich residues.
Oils and fats
Most oils and fats are used in the food industry, which
generates great quantities of wastes and so, their disposal
is a growing problem. Candida antarctica and Candida apicola synthesized surfactants (glycolipids) in a cultivation
medium supplemented with oil refinery waste, either with
soapstock (5e12% v/v) or post-refinery fatty acids (from
2 to 5% v/v). The efficiency of glycolipids synthesis was
from 7.3 to 13.4 g/L and from 6.6 to 10.5 g/L in the medium supplemented with soapstock and post-refinery fatty
acids, respectively (Bednarski, Adamczak, Tomasik, &
Plaszczyk, 2004).

M. Nitschke, S.G.V.A.O. Costa / Trends in Food Science & Technology 18 (2007) 252e259

The meat processing industry is seeking new applications for abundantly available, inexpensive animals fats.
Sophorolipid production by C. bombicola was studied as
a model of fat utilization for biosurfactant production. In
a pH controlled fermenter, 120 g/L of sophorolipid was obtained and the cells at the end of fermentation contained
37% of protein and 14% lipids (Deshpande & Daniels,
1995).
Frying oils is produced in large quantities for use both
in the food industry and at the domestic scale. Haba, Espuny, Busquets, and Manresa (2000) studied a screening
process for the selection of microorganisms strains able
to grow on frying oils (sunflower and olive) and accumulate surface-active compounds in the culture media. P. aeruginosa 47T2 was selected, showing a final production of
rhamnolipid of 2.7 g/L and a production yield of 0.34 g
rhamnolipid/g substrate. Sunflower oil soapstock was assayed as the carbon source for rhamnolipid production
by P. aeruginosa LBI strain, giving a final surfactant
concentration of 12 g/L in shaker and 16 g/L in bioreactor
experiments (Benincasa, Contiero, Manresa, & Moraes,
2002). Equally Nitschke et al. (2005) evaluated edible oil
soapstocks as alternative low-cost substrates for the production of rhamnolipids by P. aeruginosa LBI strain.
Wastes obtained from soybean, cottonseed, babassu, palm
and corn oil refinery were tested. The soybean soapstock
waste was the best substrate, generating 11.7 g/L of rhamnolipids and a production yield of 75%. Vegetable oils and
residues from vegetable oil refinery are among the most
used low-cost substrates for rhamnolipids production
(Nitschke et al., 2005).

Whey milk and distillery wastes

The disposal of cheese whey is a continuing and growing
problem to the dairy industry. A two-step batch cultivation
process was developed to produce sophorolipids from whey
by C. bombicola and Cryptococcus curvatus. In the first
step, C. curvatus was grown on deproteinized whey concentrates (DWC); the cultivation broth was disrupted with
a glass bead mill and it served a medium for growth and
sophorolipid production by C. bombicola (Daniel, Otto,
Binder, Reuss, & Syldatk, 1999).
Dubey and Juwarkar (2001) reported biosurfactant production from synthetic medium and industrial wastes such
as distillery and whey by a sludge isolate P. aeruginosa
BS2. The wastes were good substrates for growth and proliferation of bacteria and biosurfactant production in distillery and whey wastes reached maximal amounts of 0.9 and
0.92 g/L, respectively, after 96 h of incubation.
Rodrigues, Moldes, Teixeira, and Oliveira (2006) performed a screening for Lactobacillus strains able to produce
surfactants. The acid lactic bacteria Lactobacillus casei,
Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus pentosus and
Lactobacillus coryniformis torquens were selected as
surfactant-producing organisms with L. pentosus been

257

considered the most promising strain and whey as a potential alternative substrate.
Carbohydrate-rich residues
Fox and Bala (2000) demonstrated that potato processing effluent was suitable alternative carbon source to generate surfactant from B. subtilis ATCC 21332. B. subtilis
expresses an a-amylase which permits the utilization of
a starch-rich potato waste as substrate for biosurfactant production (Thompson, Fox, & Bala, 2000). Cassava wastewater is a carbohydrate-rich residue generated at large
amounts during the processing of cassava flour. This residue proved to be an appropriate substrate for biosurfactant
biosynthesis, providing not only bacterial growth and product accumulation but also a surfactant that has interesting
and useful properties with potential for many industrial
applications (Nitschke & Pastore, 2003, 2004).
Molasses is a by-product of the sugar industry that is low
in price compared to other conventional sugar sources like
sucrose or glucose and is rich in other nutrients such as
minerals and vitamins (Makkar & Cameotra, 2002). Two
B. subtilis strains were able to produce lipopeptide surfactants using minimal medium supplemented with molasses
as carbon source (Makkar & Cameotra, 1997). Molasses
and corn steep liquor were used as the primary carbon
and nitrogen sources for production of rhamnolipid biosurfactants by P. aeruginosa GS3; the interfacial tension of
culture medium against crude oil was reduced from 21 to
0.47 mN/m (Patel & Desai, 1997).
Future trends
Biosurfactants show several properties which could be
useful in many fields of food industry; recently, their antiadhesive activity has attracted attention as a new tool to
inhibit and disrupt the biofilms formed in food contact
surfaces. The combination of particular characteristics
such as emulsifying, antiadhesive and antimicrobial activities presented by biosurfactants suggests potential application as multipurpose ingredients or additives.
Scant information regarding toxicity, combined with
high production costs seems to be the major cause for the
limited uses of biosurfactants in food area. However, the
use of agroindustrial wastes can reduce the biosurfactants
production costs as well as the waste treatment expends,
and also renders a new alternative for food and food-related
industries not only for valorizing their wastes but also to
becoming microbial surfactant producers. Biosurfactants
obtained from GRAS microorganisms like Lactobacilli
and yeasts are of great promise for food and medicine
applications though, much more research is already required
on this field. The prospect of new types of surface-active
compounds from microorganisms can contribute for the detection of different molecules in terms of structure and properties, but the toxicological aspects of new and current
biosurfactants should be emphasized in order to certify the
safe of these compounds for food utilization.

258

M. Nitschke, S.G.V.A.O. Costa / Trends in Food Science & Technology 18 (2007) 252e259

With the emphasis on the construction of a sustainable

society in harmony with the environment, the introduction
of green technology in all fields of industry is one of the
most important challenges. Considering the social and technological backgrounds, utilization of biosurfactants, which
are environmentally friendly and highly functional, have
become more and more important.
Acknowledgements
We thank Fundac~ao de Amparo a` Pesquisa do Estado
de S~ao Paulo (FAPESP) for scholarship and Embrapa for
providing us the facilities for this work.
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