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Summary
The type and extent of colours added to ready-to-eat (RTE) foods prepared in the nonindustrial sector of India was investigated. Of the 545 RTE foods analysed, 90% contained
permitted colours, 2% contained a combination of permitted and non-permitted colours
and 8% contained only non-permitted colours. However in RTE foods with permitted
colours, 73% exceeded 100 ppm, as prescribed by the Prevention of Food Adulteration
Act of India, and 27% were within the prescribed levels. Among the permitted colours,
tartrazine was the most widely used colour followed by sunset yellow. The maximum
concentration of colours was detected in sweet meats (18 767 ppm), non-alcoholic
beverages (9450 ppm), miscellaneous foods (6106 ppm) and hard-boiled sugar confectioneries (3811 ppm). Among the non-permitted colours found, rhodamine was most
commonly used. Some of the foods, such as savouries and miscellaneous foods like sugar
coated aniseed and almond milk, are not supposed to contain colours as per the Prevention
of Food Adulteration Act, but were found to contain colours.
Keywords
Introduction
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Act, which lays down specications on the addition of additives to foods, was amended in 1995
(Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1995) and
permitted the use of the above-mentioned synthetic food colours in or upon food items
(Table 1).
Data on permitted synthetic food colours and
the levels to which they can be used, was used to
study, within the outlets of Hyderabad city, the
variety of RTE foods sold, the RTE foods with
added colours and the quality, quantity and extent
of use of colours in RTE foods produced by the
non-industrial sector.
Materials and methods
A total of 145 outlets, viz. supermarkets (twentythree), sweetmeat stalls (forty-ve), wholesale
markets (fteen), retail outlets selling only confectioneries and other coloured RTE foods such as
deep-fried snack foods, fun foods for children like
sugar toys, coloured synthetic powders, etc. (ten),
bakeries (twenty-one), fast food centres (six) and
small vendors (twenty-ve) were surveyed to nd
out the type and extent of RTE foods sold in the
city of Hyderabad, using a pre-tested pro forma. A
total of 545 samples of coloured food items were
purchased from the 145 outlets mentioned above.
Extraction of synthetic dyes from coloured
RTE foods
Five to ten grams of the coloured food was ground
thoroughly and colours extracted using three
Table 1 Permitted synthetic food colours can be used in the
following foods as per the PFA Act
Food items
1. Ice-cream, milk lollies, frozen dessert, flavoured milk,
yoghurt, ice- cream mix powder
2. Non-alcoholic carbonated and non-carbonated
ready-to-serve synthetic beverages including syrups,
sherbets, fruit bar, fruit beverages, fruit drinks, synthetic
soft drink concentrates
3. Biscuits, including biscuit wafer, pastries, cakes,
confectionery, thread candies, sweets, savouries
(dal moth, mongia, phul gulab, sago papad, dal biji)
4. Peas, strawberries and cherries in hermatically sealed
containers, preserved or processed papaya, canned tomato
juice, fruit syrup, fruit squash, fruit cordial, jellies, jam,
marmalade, candied crystallised or glazed fruits
absorbance values. Blends of colours were separated by paper chromatography and the separated
colours were then eluted from paper into water
and their absorbance was measured against standard colours using a Perkin Elmer spectrophotometer (Lambda-1: C632-000; Perkin Elmer,
Norwalk, CT, USA). The values were tabulated
and calculated to express the quantity of colour in
micrograms per gram (lg mL)1 in the case of
liquid samples) of the preparation (Ranganna,
1986).
Results
Table 2 Variety of RTE foods with added colours sold in the city of Hyderabad
Food Groups
Food items
Bakery items
Biscuits (both plain cream), wafers, rusks, cakes (sponge plum and fruit),
bread, buns, and pastries in different flavours
Lollypops in various forms like cherries, raspberries, grapes, apples, etc.;
mints, golis, gems, toffees, sugar toys in various forms of birds, candies,
fruit bars, mouth fresheners like peppermints; fun foods like chewing gums,
bubble gums, syrupy balls, confectioneries in the shape of oil seeds such as
groundnut with some gifts like rings, etc.
Bengal gram pulse flour preparations like laddus, Mysorepaks. Black gram pulse
flour preparations like jangris. Preparations with refined wheat flour:
jilebis, khajoor. Milk-based preparations: burfies and pedas, milk product-based
preparations: rasagolla, chum chum, gulabjamoon, basundi. Sweets made in the
shape of beetel leaf, cereal-based preparations like wheat halwas, halwas made
of vegetables such as pumpkin, carrot, with ghee and sugar, puffed rice
and flaked rice preparations such as laddus.
Rice flour and bengal gram pulse-based preparations such as murukus*.
Refined wheat flour preparations such as chekodi*. Bengal gram flour
preparations such as sev*, bujiya, boondi*. Fried pulses such as bengal gram
and green gram pulses.
Non-carbonated and carbonated synthetic syrups, sherbets, juices, synthetic
soft drink concentrates, badam (almond) milk*, lassi* (buttermilk, yoghurt)
Synthetic* coloured powders in different tastes like mango (aamchuran),
katmit powder, sugar* coated coloured saunf (aniseed), coconut gratings,
crushed ice, fresh green peas, soups, sauces, chicken 65, chicken manchuria,
chicken gravy, fried groundnuts*, biryani (a rice preparation), ice candies,
ice creams. Cherries, crystallized or glazed fruits such as tuiti frooti.
Hard-boiled sugar
confectioneries
Sweetmeats
Savouries
Non-alcoholic beverages
Miscellaneous foods
*Foods which are not supposed to contain added colours as per the PFA Act.
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Non-permitted colours
Tartrazine
Sunset yellow FCF
Ponceau 4R
Carmoisine
Erythrosine
Brilliant blue FCF
Rhodamine
Orange G
Amaranth
Fast red
Metanil yellow
Permitted colours
Sweetmeats
Hard-boiled sugar
confectioneries
Tartrazine
Sunset yellow
Ponceau 4R
Carmosine
Erythrosine
Brilliant blue FCF
63.4
33.7
5.1
6.3
Nil
16.0
48.4
27.9
6.8
11.0
5.9
21.0
Miscellaneous
foods
Non-alcoholic
beverages
52.7
28.6
11.6
9.8
Nil
22.3
53.8
48.7
15.4
20.5
2.6
12.8
The total percentage for each food category is more than 100 because some foods had
combinations of two colours.
<100 ppm
>100 ppm
Tartrazine
Sunset yellow
Ponceau 4R
Carmosine
Erythrosine
Brilliant blue FCF
31.5
28.5
23.3
37.0
53.3
64.8
68.5
71.5
76.7
63.0
46.7
35.2
Nil
14.3
85.7
Nil
Nil
36.1
25.0
22.2
36.1
13.9
30.7
15.4
Nil
38.5
15.4
Discussion
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