Dataset of FD&C Certified Food Dyes in Foods Commonly Consumed by Children

This is dataset describing the levels of Food, Drug, & Cosmetic (FD&C) dye in juice drinks, breakfast cereals, frozen desserts, ice cream cones, fruit flavored soft drinks, frostings & icings, fruit snacks/candy, decoration chips for baking, water enhancers, and flavored fruit drink powder. Data values are organized by absolute values, averages, SDs and % RSD. High performance liquid chromatography with a photometric diode array detector (HPLC-PDA) was used to measure dye levels and generate the data. These values can be used to calculate levels of dyes consumed within various populations, such as children, and compare them to accepted daily intake (ADIs) values established by the United States Food & Drug Administration (US FDA). The data are interpreted in “Survey of Certified Food Dye Levels in Food Samples Consumed by Children for Updated Exposure Levels” in the Journal of Food Additives and Contaminants: Part B.1


Specifications
Analytical Chemistry Specific subject area Toxicology, Public Health  Type of data  Tables of absolute values

Value of the Data
• These datasets are valuable for understanding levels of certified food dye present in the marketplace, estimating dietary dye intake and for monitoring trends in the use of dyes in food products. • Those working in public health and allied fields can benefit from this data to understand variability of food dyes in food products. • These data can further be applied to average heights, average weights, and dosing to determine the contribution of current levels of certified food dyes in these food categories to intake in children.

Data Description
Food, Drug, & Cosmetic (FD&C) dyes can be found in various food products that are commonly consumed by children and marketed toward children. Amounts of FD&C dyes in commercial products are proprietary and must be directly assessed to determine the level of dye intake attributed to these products. Herein, FD&C dyes were quantified in ten common food categories: breakfast cereals, juice drinks, fruit flavored soft drinks, water enhancers, fruit flavored powder drink, frostings/icings, decoration chips for baking, fruit snacks/candy, frozen desserts, and ice cream cones. The FD&C dyes measured include FD&C Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40, Red 3, and Blue. Ten data files, organized by food category, are available in the data repository. For each food category, the data is presented in Tables.
Data in Brief Breakfast Cereals, Decoration Chips, Powdered Drinks, Frosting/Icing, Frozen Desserts, Fruit Snacks/Candy, Ice Cream Cones includes the average dye content (mg-1 kg) and the range of dye content in the food (Table 1) and the serving size as indicated on each brand's label (Table 2). Raw data is provided in Table 3 and includes raw data values for each brand and lot, the average value of dye for each lot, and the average, SD, and % RSD of dye for each brand. Included in Table 3 are the peak areas, adjusted peak areas with internal standards, concentration based on the calibration curve, and the value after back calculating the concentration with consideration of the sample preparation process.
Data in Brief Juice Drinks, Soft Drinks, and Water Enhancers includes the average dye content by brand and color (mg-1 kg ± SD) ( Table 1), average density (g −1 ml, kg −1 ml) of the product (Table 2), the average dye content (mg-1 kg ± SD) and the range of dye content in the food (Table 3), serving size (Table 4) and the raw data values for each brand and lot, the average value of dye for each lot, and the average, SD, and % RSD of dye for each brand (Table 5). Included in Table 5 are the peak areas, adjusted peak areas with internal standards, concentration based on the calibration curve, and the value after back calculating the concentration with consideration of the sample preparation process.

Samples for Analysis
Ten categories of foods were identified as being commonly consumed by children and were included for analysis herein. These categories include breakfast cereals, juice drinks, fruit flavored soft drinks, water enhancers, fruit flavored drink powders, frostings/icings, decoration chips for baking, fruit snacks/candy, frozen desserts, and ice cream cones Lehmkuhler et al. [1] Primary samples included three independent lots from 2-3 brands (depending upon availability) in each category (6 or 9 samples of each brand in each category). Products that were comprised of individual units of a different color (e.g. red, yellow or blue ice cream cones) were separated by color and evaluated, rather than a forming a composite of all colors. These products included juice drinks, fruit snacks/candy, and ice cream cones. Samples were extracted and evaluated in duplicate.

Standards
FD&C standard dyes and amaranth (internal standard) were combined in MilliQ water and diluted to established an eight-point calibration curve at concentrations over the range of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 50 mg L −1 for quantification.

Sample Preparation
The breakfast cereals, ice cream cones, frozen desserts, and decoration chips for baking were homogenized by prior to dye extraction. Frozen desserts were thawed and stirred prior to extraction. Samples were prepared by putting either 500 mg (frostings/icings and flavored fruit powder drink mix), 1 g (ice cream cones, breakfast cereals, frostings/icings, and decoration chips) or 3 g (juice drinks, frozen desserts, and soft drinks) sample was weighed into a 50 mL conical tube, and Milli-Q water was added to a final volume of 30 mL. Samples were sonicated for 30 min at 55 ± 5 °C with intermittent vortexing every 10 mins during sonification. Samples were next centrifuged at 50 0 0 RPM for 10 mins and the supernatant decanted. The supernatant then underwent a clean-up step using an Oasis WAX SPE cartridge (3 cc, 60 mg x 60 μm). Briefly, the SPE cartridge was preconditioned with 1 mL of methanol, followed by 1 mL of water. Next, a 3 mL aliquot of sample was loaded onto the preconditioned column using gravity flow. The cartridge then was washed with 1 mL of 2% formic acid in water (v/v), followed by 1 mL of methanol. Dyes were eluted with 2 mL of 5% ammonia in methanol (v/v) into glass tubes. The samples were centrifuged until they were dry using a SpeedVac (Savant SpeedVac, ThermoFisher, Massachusetts, USA). A 10 μL aliquot of 250 μg −1 ml amaranth in water was added to each sample as an internal standard. The samples were then brought up in 500 μL of MilliQ water, and filtered through a 0.2 um filter into a vial for injection on an HPLC-PDA instrument.

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have, or could be perceived to have, influenced the work reported in this article.

Data Availability
Dataset of Certified Food Dye Levels in Food Samples Consumed by Children for Updated Exposure Levels (Original data) (Mendeley Data)