Food Colorant Specialist Position at YUME Food Products

Sylvia Xi

Section #1030

1/25/19
Introduction

Food dyes are used in many common beverages and foods. While food dyes serve no

nutritional purpose, they provide an attractive color to many different sports or soft drinks,

desserts, and even meat. Without realizing, food dye is present in several things, for example in a

colored sports drink, a cupcake decorated with red frosting, or just a piece of colored candy. Not

only does food dye contribute to the appeal of things, it also serves to help people make

connections to their pertaining description. For example, as perception of food flavor is closely

tied to its color, people naturally associate yellow-colored drinks to be lemon flavored or purple

drinks to taste like grapes.

In this experiment, we are using diluted standard solution of Red, Yellow, and Blue

FD&C food dyes and comparing them to the Red, Yellow, and Blue FD&C food dye

concentrations present in the name brand beverage. To find the concentrations, the absorption

spectrometer will be used. The sample of the name brand beverage is analyzed using absorption

spectroscopy to determine the exact combination and concentration of food dyes present in the

beverage. The objective of this experiment is to determine the identities and concentration of

food dyes in a given sample of a name brand beverage and to prepare a solution that contains the

same concentrations of the food dyes present in the name-brand beverage.

Referring back to the previous lab: Lab 7, Using Absorption Spectroscopy to Determine

Concentration, we know that the greater the concentration of a solution, the more absorbing

species there are per unit volume of solution makes for more light absorption, thus making

concentrated solutions appear darker. This relationship is described mathematically by the Beer

Lambert Law:

A =εbc
where A = absorbance, ε= molar absorptivity, b = path length, and c = concentration

The Beer Lambert Plot also simplifies to: A= constant * c

since the molar absorbity and path length remain constant throughout.

In relation to this experiment, if a certain color is more visually present in the name brand

beverage, it will constitute to a higher concentration of that specific food dye.

In order to create the Beer-Lambert plot, we must first make diluted standard solutions of

known concentration. To do this, we will be using the equation:

M1V1 = M2V2

and diluting each FD&C Blue, Yellow, and Red solution. When reviewing data in the measure

net, the different diluted standard solutions will be used to be compared to the food dye

concentrations present in the name brand beverage. The measure net will graph the

absorbance(y) in relation to the wavelengths(x), and the absorbance at the lambda max(highest

wavelength) will be used to determine the final concentration of the food dyes present in the

name brand beverage.

Reagents/ Special Materials

Sample of Name Brand Beverage- What we will be testing in order to find which food dyes

compose it and their exact concentrations

Solution of FD&C Blue #1 (6.75x10-6 M)- One of the food dye possibilities present in Name

Brand Beverage, will be diluted to form several concentrations for testing

Solution of FD&C Red #40 (4.00x10-5 M)- One of the food dye possibilities present in Name

Brand Beverage, will be diluted to form several concentrations for testing

Solution of FD&C Yellow #5 (4.00x10-5 M)- One of the food dye possibilities present in Name

Brand Beverage
Materials

Cuvettes- Container/storage for all standard solutions and Name Brand Beverage

Absorption Spectrometer-The spectrophotometer compares the light that leaves the source to the

light that reaches the detector after passing through the sample.

MeasureNet- Used to graph all the solutions, shows lambda max (wavelength) which is used to

calculate final concentrations

10 mL Volumetric Flask- Used to help when diluting standard solutions

Parafilm- Covers flask so no solution comes out when diluting/mixing solutions

Beral Pipettes- Used to measure out/dilute specific amounts of solution

Common Laboratory Equipment- Tables, and basic lab equipment such as goggles and gloves

needed to perform experiment

Procedure

1. First, obtain all materials and reagents required (listed above in materials and reagents

section)

2. Using the volumetric flask and graduated pipette, determine how you will create your

standard diluted solutions(certain amount of dye+water) from the available solution of

FD&C Red, Yellow, and Blue. When preparing solutions, always fill cuvettes at least ¾

full.

3. Turn on your MeasureNet station. Press Main Menu, choose the Spectroscopy option,

then press “F2 Absorption”, then press “Display” to accept the default values.

4. Prepare “Reference” solution by adding only distilled water to clean cuvette.

 5. On the spectrometer, press “Station Number” and then enter your personal MeasureNet

station number and press “Enter”

6. To zero, take the light block cuvette that is at the spectrometer, wipe it off with a

Kimwipe, place it fully in the sample holder, and then press the “Zero” button.

7. Place in your reference cuvette(filled with distilled water), press “Reference” and wait for

the process to complete.

8. Remove that cuvette from the sample compartment and replace it with your actual

sample(any of the food dye standard solutions)

9. Be sure to orient your cuvette with the clear sides in line with the light source and

detector. Press “Sample” and wait for the process to complete. The data will be sent back

to your station where it can be viewed/saved.

10. If good data, press “File Options”>“F3 Save.” Choose a 3 digit file number specific to

that file and press enter. The station will then prompt you to hit “Display” to ready the

station for your next data measurement. If you do not like your data and wish to run your

sample again, simply hit “Display” instead of going through the save process.

11. Empty your sample cuvette into the liquid waste container, rinse it well with distilled

water making sure any rinse waste also makes it into the waste container and then dry it

with a Kimwipe.

12. Repeat steps 7-13 to record absorption spectra of your remaining standard solutions and

your name brand beverage.

13. After you have finished, clean up your area, return supplies and email data to yourself.

Data

Solution of FD&C Blue #1 (6.75x10-6 M)

 Standard # Concentration Volume (amount diluted with dye) Absorption

Solution of FD&C Red #40 (4.00x10-5 M)

Standard # Concentration Volume (amount diluted with dye) Absorption

Solution of FD&C Yellow #40 (4.00x10-5 M)

Standard # Concentration Volume (amount diluted with dye) Absorption

5
Bibliography

https://www.stellarnet.us/wp-content/uploads/StellarNet-Exp1_Abs_FoodDyes.pdf

http://pages.mtu.edu/~kmsmith/SYP/Student/Thursday/SpecFoodDyes.pdf

https://sensing.konicaminolta.us/blog/identifying-food-dyes-with-spectrophotometers/