SURVEILLANCE AND QUANTIFICATION OF SYNTHETIC FOOD COLOURANTS IN SELECTED CONFECTIONARY PRODUCTS IN CHENNAI

The present study was conducted to survey various confectionary items for the presence of synthetic colourants and also to analyze the selected products quantitatively using uv –visible spectrophotometer. Out of 219 products observed 65.5% of biscuits ,71.4 % of chocolates,87.5% of cakes ,71% of sweets and 66.6% of juices were found to contain added synthetic colourants .over 24 produts were further categorized as biscuits,chocolates ,icecreams and juices and analyzed quantitatively to check their concentration,91.6% of products showed the presence of excess amount of synthetic colourants in their formulations . The concentrations of each product under study is depicted both in ppm and as mg/mL .The concentration of synthetic colourants in 8.% of the products was less than 100mg/mL or (100000ppm)and the same percentage is observed for the samples in the range of 200- 300 mg/mL ,while 33% of the items was found in the range of 300-600 mg/mLor 300000 – 600000ppm),In 50 % of the confectionaries concentrations exceeded 700mg/mL.