Determination of seven certified color additives in food products using liquid chromatography

This study describes a new method for determining FD&C Blue No. 1, FD&C Blue No. 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, and FD&C Yellow No. 6 in food products. These seven color additives are water-soluble dyes that are required to be batch certified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they may be used in food and other FDA-regulated products. In the new method, the color additives are extracted from a product using one of two procedures developed for various product types, isolated from the noncolored components, and analyzed by liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. The method was validated by determining linearity, range, precision, recovery from various matrices, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, and relative standard deviation for each color additive. A survey of 44 food products, including beverages, frozen treats, powder mixes, gelatin products, candies, icings, jellies, spices, dressings, sauces, baked goods, and dairy products, found total color additives ranging from 1.9 to 1221 mg/kg. FDA intends to use the new method for conducting a rigorous, comprehensive dietary exposure assessment of certified color additives in products likely to be consumed by children.