Progress of Cryogenics and Isotopes Separation , ISSN: 1582-2575
2011, Volume 14, Issue 2

Practical Analytical Tools for Assessing the Addition of Synthetic Dyes in Wines

Abstract

The main attributes of wine quality are linked with their naturalness and authenticity. This research has inventoried and identified the best methods to track down one of the most frequently fake in the red wine market, namely the addition of synthetic dyes. For this purpose both simple and advanced methods were used, from the fixation on mordansed white wool, on thin layer chromatography (TLC) and liquid chromatography (HPLC), on samples obtained from natural white wines artificially colored with different synthetic dyes. With an appropriate uncertainty of the measurements, using HPLC we have identified and quantified synthetic dyes as azorubin (E122), amaranth (E123) and allura Red AC (E129) in controlled contaminated wine samples. Compared with the first two methods that have provided only qualitative identification of dyes added to wine, the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) proved to be a fast analytical method, sensitive and precise, that can be used to detect unauthorized additions such as synthetic dyes used for wine color correction or obtaining red wines from white ones. To test the effectiveness of this method, both natural wine samples, from Murfatlar and Iasi vineyards, contaminated with the most known synthetic dyes used in wines counterfeiting and commercial wine, were studied.