LAUSR

Abstract The safety of chemical preservatives has been called into question due to their potential harmful effects on food. Natural compounds may serve as alternative food preservatives and offer a better safety profile. We investigated the cytotoxic, antifungal and anti-mycotoxic (Penicillium verrucosum CCT 7680) activities of phenolic compounds from Spirulina sp. LEB-18 and from rice bran biomass produced by Rhizopus oryzae in comparison with the chemical preservative calcium propionate. The phenolic compounds tested did not show cytotoxic activity in NIH/3T3 cells. Phenolic compounds from fermented rice bran and Spirulina sp. LEB-18 showed promising results, inhibiting fungal growth by 39.8% and 20.2%, respectively, and ochratoxin A by 40.2% and 29%, respectively. When the effects of phenolic compounds were compared with those of calcium propionate, the efficiency of the phenolic compounds from rice bran and Spirulina were 2.5 and 1.5 times higher, respectively.