Rapid detection of dimethyl yellow dye in curry by liquid chromatography-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry

An accurate and rapid method, was devised for the identification and quantitation of dimethyl yellow dye in curry, based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry interfaced with electrospray. Mass spectral acquisition was done in positive ion mode applying two fragmentation transitions to provide a high degree of selectivity. The extraction system provided a very high recovery (100.0% to 105.8%) and good results were obtained for the limit of detection (5 μg/kg) and limit of quantitation (16 μg/kg). The applicability of the method to identifing and quantifing the unauthorised dimethyl yellow dye in curry was demonstrated.