Abstract
Foods must have attractive color, flavor and texture to be acceptable to consumers. Carminic acid (C.I. (1956) 75470; C.I. Natural Red 4; EEC No. E120) is a natural red dye extracted from cochineal, the desiccated bodies of female Dactylopius coccus Costa insects. Carminic acid produce pink shades in candy, confections, chewing gum, concentrated fruit juice, smoked fish, liqueurs and alcoholic cordials, soft drinks, yoghurt, ice cream, tomato ketchup, baked goods, dairy products, jams, jellies, eye shadow, and pill coatings. The impact of the presence of aspartame, citric acid and vitamin C on the spectrophotometric parameters of carminic acid was investigated. These results enabled us to evaluate the possibility of using UV-Vis spectrophotometric method for easily identifying and quantifying carminic acid present in a wide variety of foodstuffs in the presence of additives. It was established that the investigated additives do not affect the position of absorbance maximum of the dye nor cause changes in its intensity. The value of molar absorptivity, ε, at 518 nm was 1265.68 ± 49.90 dm3/mol∙cm. The calculated value is necessary for the quantitative spectrophotometric determination of carminic acid food dye. The FT IR spectra of the dye was also recorded.
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