A wide range of synthetic dyes are used in industry for coloring various materials such as textiles, waxes and leather garments. The use of these dyes in food is not allowed because of health concerns (cancer-risk) related to their intake. The market takes a view that something like paprika or chili has an ideal color and that it is only possible to get the best price if it's the perfect match. Foreign producers are deciding to use inexpensive illegal dyes to achieve the perfect color, which in turn boosts the price for the spices and their profit. Spices under suspicion are huge part of American and British diets because of the surge in popularity of Indian, Chinese, Thai and Mediterranean dishes.The QuEChERS methodology and a superficially porous LC column were employed to extract a series of illegal dyes. The QuEChERS procedure offers a simple sample preparation technique for the extraction of illegal dyes from difficult sample matrices like spices. The use of a superficially porous LC column is extremely well suited for use with more complex samples, with efficient mass transfer. The combination of QuEChERS and superficially porous column equates to faster analysis time, higher throughput with optimum results.

Determination of illegal dyes in spices by QuEChERS and LC-MS/MS analysis

248th National Meeting (2014)

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