Application of High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detector for Simultaneous Determination of 11 Synthetic Dyes in Selected Beverages and Foodstuffs

Tomasz Rejczak,Tomasz Tuzimski

doi:10.1007/s12161-017-0905-3

Abstract

A simple, inexpensive and robust high-performance liquid chromatography diode array detector (HPC-DAD) procedures are proposed to analyse food dyes in beverages, hard candy and fish roe samples. An ether-linked phenyl stationary phase provides sufficient selectivity and chromatographic performance for separation of 11 sulfonated azo dyes. Beverage samples were only diluted (and degassed when needed) before analysis. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) or matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) procedures are proposed for efficient extraction of the analytes from candies or fish roe samples, respectively. Limits of detection (LODs) were from 0.005 to 0.013 μg mL−1 and limits of quantification (LOQs) between 0.014 and 0.038 μg mL−1. HPLC-DAD method was validated in terms of intra- and inter-day accuracy and precision at three concentration levels 2, 1, and 0.1 μg mL−1. Validation was also performed for SPE and MSPD extraction procedures including intra- and inter-day accuracy (Recovery %) and precision (RSD%), as well as intra-laboratory reproducibility. Application to analysis of beverages and food samples available to consumers proved that described methods are suitable for the routine analysis of dyes in food products.

Highlights

Synthetic dyes are widely used as food additives, which are added to foodstuffs in order to compensate for the loss of natural colours destroyed during processing and/or storage, to enhance natural colour or add colour to foods that would otherwise be colourless or coloured differently (Jia et al 2014)
The elaborated HPLC-diode array detector (DAD) method and three different sample preparation solutions was successfully applied to the analysis of ten different beverages, two different hard candy products and three fish roe/caviar samples
The detailed results and most important information on method development and validation are provided in subsequent subsections devoted to HPLC-DAD method development and validation, and analysis of beverage; hard candy and fish roe/caviar samples

Summary

Introduction

Synthetic dyes are widely used as food additives, which are added to foodstuffs in order to compensate for the loss of natural colours destroyed during processing and/or storage, to enhance natural colour or add colour to foods that would otherwise be colourless or coloured differently (Jia et al 2014). In order to ensure food safety and control international trade, different legislative efforts were paid to the food colourants regulation (Burrows 2009). Many countries have their own regulations about the food dyes permitted to be used in foods. In EU, Tartrazine (E 102); Quinoline yellow (E 104); Sunset yellow (E 110); Azorubin (E 122); Ponceau 4R (E 124) and Allura red (E 129) should be labelled with additional information: ‘name or E number of the colour(s): may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children’ Some of these colourants are banned in other countries. Analysis of synthetic dyes in food products

Methods

Results

Conclusion