Yeast Lipids: Extraction, Quality Analysis, and Acceptability

While a class of yeasts excrete lipid-containing surfactants, oleaginous yeasts produce and store
lipids similar to vegetable oils and fats. Recovery of the oleaginous yeast lipids is problematic because of their
intracellular nature and protection by well-knit biopolymers of the cell wall and other membrane systems. There
is no suitable method of choice that ensures 100% recovery of intracellular lipids without affecting the native
state during different unit operations. Several laboratory methods are available, but none can be adopted directly
for commercial extractions due to technological limitations. However, as a result of the emergence of new
downstream processing techniques, there is a positive indication for commercialization of yeast-lipid production
in the future. Although most of the oleaginous yeasts are nonpathogenic, it is mandatory to analyze and report
quality as well as toxicity of their lipids prior to market introduction as a component of human diet. This warrants
specially formulated codes for edibility of yeast lipids and, in general, for similar products from other microbial
sources.