Discovering Sudan IV in Salty Eggs with LC-TOF-MS

This study evaluated the screening of Sudan dyes in salty egg using liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS). With this technology, accurate mass measurements were made to generate elemental compositions of ions and to provide complementary structural information. This approach is useful for the elucidation of organic pollutants at trace levels in complex food extracts and in the present study salty egg samples were analyzed for the presence of Sudan IV. TOF accurate mass elemental composition data of Sudan IV were found to be crucial for structural elucidation which was applied to the investigation of nine salty egg samples.