ESTIMATION OF TARTRAZINE IN FRUIT JUICES AND JAMS BY HPTLC METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION PARAMETERS

Tartrazine is a lemon-yellow synthetic food colourant belonging to azo group. The Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of tartrazine is 7.5mg/kg However, it is possible that more than permissible amount of Tartrazine is used to make food items more attractive. This may pose threat to consumer’s health. Hence the overall aim of the study was to detect and quantitate the presence of tartrazine in commercially available as well as locally made and sold fruit juices and jams. Fresh fruit juices (Branded and Non-Branded) and jams purchased from shops and street vendors in Belagavi city of Karnataka, India were subjected to High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC). Silica gel aluminum plate ⁶⁰F₂₅₄ was used as the stationary phase and Iso-propanol: Ammonia (6:4) v/v was used as mobile phase. HPTLC has many advantages over the other analytical methods applied for tartrazine estimation. The method was validated using analytical parameters like linearity, range, precision, specificity, LOD, LOQ and robustness. Out of the 10 branded fruit juices analysed tartrazine was present in 9 samples within permissible range. Tartrazine was absent in local juices. Tartrazine was present in all 10 jam samples analysed within permissible range. Presence of tartrazine within ADI range suggest that the juices and jams are safe for consumer’s health.