A fast and effective cleanup method was developed for the analysis of Sudan I, II, III, IV, and Para Red (Sudan dyes) in various foods and paprika color (oleoresin) by high-performance liquid chromatography (LC) with a diode array detector (DAD). Removal of fat or oil in fatty sample was a critical point for reducing the volume of the final sample solution in order to obtain a sufficient level of the analytes. Separation of fat or oil from the dyes with a silica gel solid-phase extraction (SPE) column seemed unfeasible, because elution profiles of oil, fat, and the dyes were similar. Finally, fat and oil were separated from the dyes by elution from the SPE column with n-hexane, not as intact compounds but as fatty acid methyl esters prepared by direct transesterification of acylglycerols in fat and oil, leaving the dyes on the column. The dyes were eluted with n-hexanediethyl ether (9 + 1). Gradient elution with water and tetrahydrofuran was used for separation on a C18 column by LC. Measurement of spectral of μ0.5 g/g of Sudan dyes in foods and 1 μg/g in paprika color (oleoresin) with the DAD was achieved.

Aluminium (Al) levels of 90 food samples were investigated. Nineteen samples contained Al levels exceeding the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for young children [body weight (bw): 16 kg] when consuming two servings/week. These samples were purchased multiple times at specific intervals and were evaluated for Al levels. Al was detected in 27 of the 90 samples at levels ranging from 0.01 (limit of quantitation) to 1.06 mg/g. Of these, the Al intake levels in two samples (cookie and scone mix, 1.3 and 2 mg/kg bw/week, respectively) exceeded the TWI as established by European Food Safety Authority, although the level in the scone mix was equivalent to the provisional TWI (PTWI) as established by Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives. The Al levels markedly decreased in 14 of the 19 samples with initially high Al levels. These results indicated reductions in the Al levels to below the PTWI limits in all but two previously identified food samples.

The aluminium (Al) content of 105 samples, including bakery products made with baking powder, agricultural products and seafoods treated with alum, was investigated. The amounts of Al detected were as follows (limit of quantification: 0.01 mg/g): 0.01-0.37 mg/g in 26 of 57 bakery products, 0.22-0.57 mg/g in 3 of 6 powder mixes, 0.01-0.05 mg/g in all three agricultural products examined, 0.03-0.90 mg/g in 4 of 6 seafood samples, 0.01-0.03 mg/g in 3 of 11 samples of instant noodles, 0.04-0.14 mg/g in 3 of 4 samples of vermicelli, 0.01 mg/g in 1 of 16 soybean products, but none in soybeans. Amounts equivalent to the PTWI of a 16 kg infant were detected in two samples of bakery products, two samples of powder mixes and one sample of salted jellyfish, if each sample was taken once a week. These results suggest that certain foods, depending on the product and the intake, might exceed the PTWI of children, especially infants.

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