Natamycin Powder: A Natural, Efficient and Safe Antifungal Preservative

Natamycin Powder boasts unique properties that make it stand out from traditional chemical preservatives. Unlike conventional preservatives such as nitrates, sodium benzoate, and sorbates— which carry chemical hazards, leave residues, and may cause side effects like allergies or even cancer when overconsumed—natamycin offers unparalleled safety. Its core advantage lies in its targeted antifungal mechanism: it binds to ergosterol in the cell membrane of fungi, forming sterol compounds that disrupt the integrity of the cytoplasmic membrane. This process creates water channels on the membrane, damaging its permeability and causing the leakage of amino acids, electrolytes and other substances inside the fungus, ultimately leading to fungal death. Importantly, animal and human cells lack ergosterol on their surfaces, making them insensitive to natamycin—this ensures the powder is harmless to the human body, difficult to be absorbed by the digestive tract, and free of mutagenic, carcinogenic or sensitizing effects.

In addition, Natamycin Powder exhibits high efficiency at extremely low concentrations (ppm level), enabling rapid inhibition of fungal growth and significant extension of product shelf life without altering the original flavor, color or nutritional value of the treated products. It is stable within a pH range of 3 to 9, resistant to high temperatures up to 100°C (withstanding pasteurization and mild processing), and only sensitive to ultraviolet light and extreme pH conditions, making it adaptable to various processing environments. Moreover, microorganisms rarely develop resistance to natamycin, ensuring its long-term effectiveness in practical applications—a key advantage over many synthetic antifungals. Emerging applications also include its incorporation into biodegradable polymer films for active food packaging, further expanding its utility.

Advanced Production Process

Our Natamycin Powder is produced using an improved semi-solid fermentation technology, which overcomes the shortcomings of traditional liquid deep ventilation fermentation, such as high equipment investment, low extraction yield, and heavy environmental pollution. We adopt biologically inert porous granular materials (preferably perlite particles) as fermentation matrix carriers, which effectively adsorb medium substances and provide an optimal growth environment for Streptomyces strains. To further enhance yield and purity, we optimize the fermentation process by adjusting carbon sources and pH: when the natamycin content in the fermentation broth reaches specific levels, we switch the fed carbon source from glucose to sucrose and adjust the pH from 7.0 to 6.0, significantly improving product quality.

The fermentation matrix is carefully formulated with composite carbon sources (primarily glucose, later switched to sucrose) and composite nitrogen sources (optimally soybean protein powder combined with yeast extract), ensuring a high fermentation titer of up to 21.3 grams per liter with a purity of 98.3% under optimized conditions. During the fermentation process, the material is turned every 6 to 12 hours, and sterile glucose or sucrose aqueous solution is supplemented by spraying to maintain stable nutrient supply and avoid carbon catabolite repression. After fermentation, the material is air-dried in situ, and the final natamycin powder is obtained through column loading, soaking, leaching, desolvation, dilution precipitation and spray drying. This process requires no strong acids or alkalis, produces almost no wastewater or waste residue, and achieves high extraction yield, complying with energy conservation and environmental protection requirements. We also optimize strains through atmospheric and room temperature plasma mutagenesis and nitrogen metabolism regulation, further improving production efficiency and product purity.

Widely Application Fields

Natamycin Powder is widely used in the food industry due to its excellent antifungal performance and safety. In the dairy industry, it is sprayed or dipped on the surface of cheese at a concentration of 200-300 mg/kg to prevent mold growth without affecting the cheese's flavor and texture; in the EU, it is authorized as food additive E235 specifically for cheese and dried sausage surface treatment. In the meat product industry, it is used to treat meat sausages, cured meats and western hams, effectively preventing mold contamination and intestinal adhesion. It also shows promising results in controlling green mold and sour rot in mandarins and other fruits when applied at appropriate concentrations.

In the bakery and beverage industries, Natamycin Powder is added to pastries, fruit juice concentrates, fermented wines and salad dressings—with a usage amount of 5-10 mg/kg for beverages and 0.02 mg/kg for salad dressings—to inhibit yeast and mold growth and extend shelf life. It can also be used to disinfect the surface of food processing utensils to avoid cross-contamination. Beyond the food industry, it is approved by the FDA for topical ophthalmic use (under the brand name Natacyn) to treat fungal eye infections such as keratitis, conjunctivitis, and blepharitis, and is listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. It is also added to feed at a concentration of 11 ppm to prevent feed mildew, protecting livestock health.

Safety and Compliance

Natamycin Powder has been recognized as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by major global regulatory authorities, including the U.S. FDA, WHO, and EU EFSA. The FDA approved it for medical use as an ophthalmic suspension in 1978 and as a food additive in June 1982; China formally approved its use in food in 1996. It has an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 0–0.3 mg/kg body weight, with human exposure from food uses estimated to be well below this limit. Extensive studies have confirmed no evidence of genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, or reproductive toxicity, solidifying its reputation as a safe and reliable antifungal preservative for global applications.

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Miranda Zhang