Nanosensor measures edible dyes in foods

(Nanowerk News) Researchers from Tabriz University succeeded in the production of a nanosensor that is capable of measuring edible dyes sensitively, selectively and simultaneously ("Carbon Nanotube–Ionic Liquid (CNT–IL) Nanocamposite Modified Sol-Gel Derived Carbon-Ceramic Electrode for Simultaneous Determination of Sunset Yellow and Tartrazine in Food Samples").
Quality control laboratories in foodstuff and beverage industries and standard organizations can use the results of the research to control and evaluate the allowed amount of edible dyes in foodstuff products.
Edible dyes of sunset yellow and tartrazine are usually used in foodstuff industries for improving the appearance, color and structure of food and beverage such as dairy products. The amount of dyes must be controlled due to the potential harms of these artificial dyes on human’s health. Therefore, researchers tried in this research to produce a nanosensor that can sensitively, selectively, and simultaneously measure edible dyes of sunset yellow and tartrazine in the samples.
The nanosensor is made of ceramic carbon and it has been modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes. According to the present report, the modified sensor has very better sensitivity and selectivity than the non-modified one in the test samples.
Reza Fadakar Bajeh Baj explained about the research, and said, “Price difference in dyes is a reason why food and beverage producers use edible dyes such as sunset yellow and tartrazine more than the permitted amount. Statistical data verify the high accuracy of the proposed method. Therefore, we hope that this method can be used in standard organization laboratories to detect and control the permitted amount of the dyes in food and beverage products.”
Source: INIC