Recent progress in electrochemical detection of amaranth in food samples: A brief review

Abstract

Amaranth (E 123, AM) is a red synthetic azo dye authorized as a food additive in the EU. In contrast to natural colorants, AM has significant advantages such as low production cost, excellent water solubility, and high stability. AM is used to enhance the natural color, to decrease the loss of color due to processing treatments, and to provide color to colorless ultra-processed foods, making food more attractive to the consumers. AM is widely used in food industry to improve the appearance and color of different types of food and beverages, including confectionery products, jelly, candies, jams, dairy products, ice creams, sausages, wines, syrups and soft drinks. Many of these food products are manufactured directly for, and marketed directly to, children. The high amount of AM in food products can cause adverse health effects such as dizziness, allergies, and respiratory problems. Moreover, long-term studies indicated that the potential adverse effects induced by AM include genotoxicity and cytotoxicity. Therefore, the development of a precise and easy-to-handle alternative for a quick and efficient quantitative detection of AM in food products is necessary for consumer safety. Modern electroanalytical techniques have the advantages of excellent sensitivity and selectivity, instrumental simplicity and portability, providing reliable alternatives to the conventional analytical methods. In this brief review, we have summarized recent trends in the electrochemical sensor systems applied for the analysis of AM in food samples, critically evaluated the performance metrics of these sensors: sensitivity, linear range, limit of detection and stability. Finally, the current challenges and future prospects are outlined.