Process for producing carotenoid compound

A process for producing a carotenoid mixture containing zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin, comprising

• mutating a parent astaxanthin-producing bacterium having a 16S ribosomal RNA that is not less than 98% homologous to sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 1;
• culturing the mutants obtained to form colonies on a solid medium;
• selecting yellow to orange colonies on said solid medium;
• culturing the selected mutant colonies in a culture medium;
• extracting and analyzing the carotenoids in the culture;
• screening for a mutant strain having 20% or more proportion by mass of zeaxanthin to total carotenoids in said culture to provide a bacterium producing zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin;
• culturing said bacterium;
• and harvesting a carotenoid mixture containing zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin from the resultant culture.