Determination of Concentration of Food Dyes in Powdered Drink Mixes

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) food dyes make industrial goods like foods and beverages more appealing. These dyes are synthetic and are typically used instead of natural dyes due to their color, stability, and low cost. Research has implied that children are sensitive to the amount of food dye in products. The amount of food dye in products is proprietary information, so it can be challenging to determine how much dye children are ingesting. In this study, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) was utilized to find the concentration of food dyes in various powdered drink mixes. The results show that powdered drink mixes containing Red 40 have higher concentrations of food dye than the rest of the drink mixes. Our data supports that there is a difference between the concentrations of food dyes within drink mixes containing Red 40 versus those without it. These concentrations depend on the dye and how many dyes were in the drink mix.