Technique for determining whether there are food colorings in powdered children’s food, using terahertz spectroscopy

Abstract

A technique is presented for using teraherz spectroscopy to determine the presence of food colorings in powdered dry children’s milk, based on the absorption spectra of pure substances and mixtures with different percentages of dyes in them. The spectra of food colorings E129, E155, E124 and dry children’s milk are investigated both separately and in mixtures. It is established that, when colorings are added to dry milk, an increase of the absorption coefficient was observed at frequencies that correspond to broad absorption lines of the dyes in the 0.6–1.3-THz range. When the mass fraction of a coloring in dry milk increases, the absorption of their mixture increases.