Survey and monitoring of the level of artificial dye Brown HT in food products and review of regulations and legal requirements for its use

Faraji, Mohammad; Afsharmanesh, Mahdieh

doi:10.22034/asas.2026.581487.1102

Survey and monitoring of the level of artificial dye Brown HT in food products and review of regulations and legal requirements for its use

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Mohammad Faraji ¹

Mahdieh Afsharmanesh ²

¹ Research Group of Food, Halal and Agricultural Products, Research Department of Food Technology and Agricultural Products, Standard Research Institute (SRI), Karaj P.O. Box 31745-139, Iran

² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Alborz, Iran

10.22034/asas.2026.581487.1102

Abstract

Despite the many advantages that synthetic colors have over natural colors, their use is generally subject to restrictions from regulatory agencies. This research presents a simple method for identifying and quantifying the artificial color Brown HT in brown-colored food products using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Furthermore, the technical regulations for the use of this color in the world are reviewed and discussed. Initially, separation and detection parameters were investigated and optimized. The method was validated under these optimized conditions. The linear range was determined to be 1.0 to 50 mg/L. The repeatability of the method within a single day and over several days was found to be 3.6% and 5.3%, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined to be 0.3 and 1 mg/L, respectively. After validating the method, 40 brown-colored food samples, including chocolate milk, cake, ice cream, chocolate desserts, etc., were prepared, and their color content was analyzed. Approximately 80% of the samples did not contain the artificial color. In some ice cream and cake samples, the color was observed in the range of not detected (ND) to 34.6 mg/kg. The percentage recovery in the analysis of real samples was within the satisfactory range of 95% - 99%. Regarding the current regulatory status of Brown HT, it is noted that, based on the 2010 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) re-evaluation, the acceptable daily intake (ADI) was established at 1.5 mg/kg body weight/day, derived from long-term carcinogenicity and toxicity studies in mice.

Keywords

Brown HT

Synthetic dyes

Food samples

Regulations

High performance liquid chromatography

Subjects

Food Sciences

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