Sudan dyes are a class of synthetic dyes that are mainly used for industrial applications such as the coloring of plastic. These dyes are banned as a food-coloring agent because they are classified as carcinogens. For economical reasons, however, Sudan dyes are sometimes illegally used to color food to improve its appearance. Therefore, methods are needed to determine if food products have been adulterated with these dyes. Typically, Sudan dyes are determined by reversed-phase chromatography with UV or mass spectrometry (MS) detection.
