Determination of a Food Colorant, Cardenia Yellow Pigment, in Processed Foods with a High Performance Liquid Chromatograph/Photodiode-array Detector/Mass Spectrometer System

A determination method for a food colorant, gardenia yellow pigment, in processed foods using a high performance liquid chromatograph/photodiode-array detector/mass spectrometer (LC-PDA-MS) system was examined. In this method, the total contents and the composition of crocetin derivatives (the seven main components of gardenia yellow pigment) were measured at the same time in unboiled noodles and dairy beverages to which more than 200μg of gardenia yellow pigment as crocetin per 100g of the processed foods had been added. The contents of gardenia yellow pigment in processed foods could be calculated by determining the recovery from model foodsThe total contents of gardenia yellow pigment extracted from commercial unboiled noodles and dairy beverages were 3.5μg/g and 2.3μg/g as crocetin. From the recoveries (unboiled noodle: 45%, dairy beverage: 62%) in these experiments, it was calculated that the commercial unboiled noodle and dairy beverage had been prepared with 750μg and 370μg of gardenia yellow pigment as crocetin per 100g of the processed foods, respectively. These values were close to those in the recipe used by the food company. The composition of gardenia yellow pigment from commercial foods was simillar to that of gardenia yellow pigment in the fruit.