Determination of Erythrosine Content in Fermented Milk by Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was established for the determination of erythrosine in fermented milk. After enzymatic hydrolysis, the sample was extracted with anhydrous ethanol, and purified by solid phase extraction using an HLB column under alkaline conditions. The separation was performed on a C₁₈ reverse-phase column by gradient elution using a mobile phase comprising 20 mmol/L ammonium acetate buffer solution (pH 6.5) and methanol. The detection wavelength was set at 520 nm, and quantification was performed by the external standard method. The results showed that the linear range for erythrosine was 0.05–20.00 μg/mL. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) and the limit of detection (LOD) of erythrosine in fermented milk samples were 0.2 and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively. The recoveries from fermented milk samples spiked at levels of 0.2–2.0 mg/kg were 96.5%–105.6%, and the relative standard deviations (RSD) were 1.87%–2.21%. The method is simple and accurate, has high recovery and good repeatability, and is suitable for the determination of erythrosine in fermented milk.