Establishment of an Analytical Method for Azorubine, an Undesignated Food Colorant in Korea

초록

Azorubine is a synthetic tar color containing azo-bond in the molecular structure. This food colorant has been allowed to be used for beverages, cheese and dried fruits in the European Union and for some food in Australia. Even though it is applicable as a food color in many countries, this compound has not been permitted in Korea so far as a food additive. Thus, this study was performed to establish an analysis method for azorubine in Korea by comparison of three HPLC analysis methods for azorubine and other azo-compounds which are officially used in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, EU), the Food Standard Agency (FSA, England) and the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS, Korea). The analysis method of the FSA for azorubine showed the best linearity (r2 = 0.999), limit of detection (LOD, 0.07 ㎍/mL), limit of quantification (LOQ, 0.20 ㎍/mL), precision (0~0.5%) and accuracy (98.6~100.7%) among tested HPLC methods using a C-18 column and diode array detector (DAD) with ammonium acetate solution and acetonitrile as an eluent solution. Finally selected method of FSA was further verified by inter-day and intra-day experiments with linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision and accuracy. Recovery test showed the recover ratios of 97~103%, 95~101%, and 93~102% in beverages, breads/snacks and other foods, respectively. Inter-laboratory test represented the absolute value of z-score of less than 2 which means satisfactory levels in this test. Selected method of FSA showed reliable analytical results in application test using food samples collected in commercial markets in Europe.

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