The Potency of Plant Dye Extracts for Halal Detection on Consumed Animal Fats

Abstract

One point of the halal concepts is the food does not contain any lard or any pigs derivatives. UV-vis spectrophotometry using natural dyes, among other methods, can be developed for animal fat analysis. One factor that influence the analysis is the solubility of animal fats and natural dyes in organic solvents. This research was conducted to study the differences of UV-vis spectrum profile in animal fats (chicken, beef, lamb, pork) using various natural dyes (namely Curcuma longa Linn., Curcuma zanthorriza, Curcuma heyneana, Zingiber montanum, Uncaria, Caesalpinia sappan, and Areca catechu) in different type of solvents. The research consists of four main steps: 1) screening of plant dyes in several solvents with different polarity, 2) screening of animal fat in several solvents with different polarity, 3) screening of animal fats mixed with plant dyes in selected solvents, and 4) analysis of animal fats mixed with plant dyes in selected solvents by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The results showed that plant dyes from C. longa Linn., C. zanthorrhiza, A. catechu, and Uncaria, well as all animal fats used in this work, were soluble in ethyl-acetate and isopropanol. UV-vis spectrum profile of the animal fats with turmeric dyes in ethyl-acetate for chicken, beef, pork, and lamb fats, shows peaks at λ of 484, 792, 488.5, and 741 nm with absorbance of 3.913, 0.816, 3.524, and 0.175 respectively. Meanwhile in isopropanol, the profile for chicken, beef, pork, and lamb fats have λ of 751, 787, 712, 499 nm with absorbance of 0.007, 1.012, 0.479, and 3.913, respectively. Therefore, the UV-vis spectrum profile of animal fat with C. longa Linn dyes in ethyl-acetate can distinguish lard from the beef and lamb fats. In isopropanol, the lard cannot be distinguished from the chicken and beef fats, but it can differentiate lard from the lamb fats. The C. zanthorrhiza dyes in ethyl-acetate cannot distinguish lard from the chicken, beef, and lamb fats, but C. zanthorrhiza dyes can distinguish lard from the beef fat using isopropanol as the solvent. For A. catechu and Uncaria dyes in ethyl-acetate and isopropanol, they all cannot distinguish lard from the chicken, beef and lamb fats.