[Simultaneous determination of sudan red dyes in foods by high performance liquid chromatography with a clean-up procedure by gel column].

A method was developed for the simultaneous determination of Sudan Red I, II, III and IV in foods by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a clean-up procedure by gel column. Sample was extracted from foods with ethanol. The extract was cleaned up with a Bio-Beads SX3 gel column (200 mm x 10 mm i. d. ) and eluted with cyclohexane-ethyl acetate (1:1, v/v). The analysis was performed on a Symmetry Shield RP18 column (250 mm x 4. 6 mm i. d. , 5 microm) with 100% methanol as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min, detection at 478 nm and confirmation by diode-array spectra. All of the four compounds demonstrated good linear relationship (r > 0.999) in the range of 0.1 - 10.0 mg/L. The limits of detection (LOD) were from 7 to 14 microg/kg. The average recoveries for all four dyes (spiked at the levels of 0.25 and 2. 5 mg/kg) in chili sauce and sausage ranged from 80.7% to 96.3%, and the relative standard deviations were from 2.4% to 5.9%. The method is sensitive, reliable and can be applied for the analysis of four Sudan Red dyes in foods.