Quantitative analysis of illegal dyes in eggs using LC/MS/MS

Introduction

Generally, egg yolk color is an indication of its nutritional value and freshness. Eggs with yellow-orange hue are the most desired ones. Hence, egg producers enhance the color of their products by feeding the egg laying hens with feed containing various synthetic dyes. This can be proved by confirming the presence of illegal dye residues in eggs. A method for pre-treatment and subsequent LC/MS/MS analysis has been developed for highly sensitive quantitation of these dyes from egg using LCMS-8040, a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer from Shimadzu Corporation, Japan. Ultra-fast scanning speed of LCMS-8040 enables simultaneous analysis of four sudan dyes and para red dye. All these dyes were quantitated at low ppb levels with high specificity and good repeatability even in presence of egg matrix. Sudan and para red dyes consists of a group of synthetic industrial dyes like sudan I, II, III and IV etc. The International Agency for Research on Cancer evaluated the safety of sudan I, II, III and IV in 1987 and considered that they were unclassifiable as to their carcinogenicity to humans. Although there is some evidence that sudan dyes may cause cancer in experimental animals and may cause damage to the genes, there is currently inadequate evidence that they cause cancer in humans.

January 7, 2020 GMT