Evaluation and Comparison of Consumption Trend of Artificial Colors in Different Confectionary Products in the City of Qom in 2007-2009

The use of artificial colors plays a major role in creating a sense of customer satisfaction; however the use of impermissible colors can cause toxic effects in the body. These compounds can lead to allergic reactions and even cancer disease in the body. According to the afore mentioned effects and the wide range of the applica-tion of these compounds in confectionary products، we sought to compare the consu-mption of food dyes in confectionary products in the city of Qom from 2007 to 2009. Confectionary products were randomly sampled from confectionary manufacturers in the city of Qom. 342 samples in 2007، 291 samples in 2008 and 398 samples in 2009 were analy-zed and investigated. The color analyzing included the defatted samples، purification and extraction of color compounds، chrom-atography، and determining the kind of the color. Based on the findings of the study among the samples، 28. 6 % of them in 2007، 28. 9% in 2008 and 28. 1% in 2009 contained impermissable colors. Discussion & The Results showed that a significant amount of the confectionary products are unsafe for consumption، annually. The high cost، instability and low nutritional value of natural colors are the reasons for the excessive use of the impermissible colors. But according to the results of this study it is seemed that most of people are not aware about the toxic effects of these colors and this may be the main reasons for the repea-ted use of these materials in confectionary products.