Liquid chromatographic determination of carminic acid in yogurt

A reverse-phase liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of carminic acid in yogurt. A C18 column is used with acetonitrile-1.19M formic acid (19 + 81) as mobile phase and diode array detection. Sample preparation includes deproteinization with papain and purification in a polyamide column. The relative standard deviation for repeated determinations of carminic acid in a commercial strawberry-flavored yogurt was 3.0%. Recoveries of carminic acid added to a natural-flavored yogurt ranged from 87.2 to 95.3% with a mean of 90.2%. The method permits measurement of amounts as low as 0.10 mg/kg.