Assay of Sudan I contamination of foodstuff by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry and isotope dilution.
Food safety represents one of the main issues of national and international agencies appointed to health control. In April 2003, a French agency disclosed that powdered or smashed hot chili pepper imported from India and Pakistan was heavily contaminated with a carcinogenic azo dye known as Sudan I. This paper deals with a modern approach for assaying the content of this colorant in foodstuff down to a limit of a few tens of parts per billion. The isotope dilution method combined with APCI tandem mass spectrometry was used. The internal standard, 1-(d5-phenylazo)-2-naphthalenol, was obtained by simple chemistry, and its structure was determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The mass spectrometric method is more sensitive than the HPLC approach by a factor of 20.
Di Donna
Leonardo
L
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università della Calabria, via P. Bucci, cubo 12/C, I-87030 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy.
Maiuolo
Loredana
L
Mazzotti
Fabio
F
De Luca
Damiano
D
Sindona
Giovanni
G
D001274:Atmospheric Pressure; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000032:analysis*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination; D007201:Indicator Dilution Techniques; D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry; D007554:Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D009284:Naphthols / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D002273:Carcinogens; D004396:Coloring Agents; D007477:Ions; D007554:Isotopes; D009284:Naphthols; C024336:1-phenylazo-2-naphthol