Question

Propose a procedure for determining the amount of red food dye in a box of cereal

Answer 1

We can determine the amount of red food dye in cereal spectrophotometrically.

We can dissolve the food sample in a suitable solvent

prepare different concentration solution of red food dye in the solvent and measure the absorbance through UV-Vis spectrophotometer, at a particular wavelength (corresponding to red dye).

Then measure the absrobance of the food sample containing red dye.

Plot a graph between absorbance and conc of food dye to obtain a straight line

y =mx +c

where m = slope (from graph)

c = intercept (From graph)

y = absrobance

x = concentration

Now we can put the value of absorbance for the food sample containing red dye, it will give the concentration of red dye in the food sample.