3.5 Stability of the colorants
The stability of the colorants was thoroughly assessed in this study, considering various environmental factors. The resistance of the colorants to temperature variations (-20°C, 40°C, 60°C, 80°C, and 100°C) for a duration of 1 hour revealed no noticeable color reduction. Additionally, the colorants displayed remarkable resistance to different pH levels (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) during the same timeframe. However, out of the fungi-derived colorants, only those obtained from P. sclerotiorum P3SO224 exhibited 100% stability when incubated for 6 hours at different salt concentrations (0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, and 1% v/v). The other fungal colorants showed a significant reduction (50% color loss) starting from 0.2% NaCl. Furthermore, no significant color fading was observed in the fungal colorants after a 6-hour incubation under both white light and UV light exposure.