Assessment of Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate Preservatives and Artificial Color in Bulk Tomato Paste Samples in Qazvin, Iran

Tomato is one of the popular crops in the world and tomato paste is a product of it. Due to its wide application, quality control of this product is important. The goal of our study was to the assessment of potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate preservatives and artificial color in bulk tomato paste samples in Qazvin, Iran. In this study, 45 samples were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine the preservatives. Benzoic acid was detected in 17 (37.78%) samples, ranging from nd not detected to 1896 mg kg-1 and Potassium sorbate was not detected in any of the samples. The detection of color in samples was done by the thin-layer chromatography method (TLC). Three samples (6.67%) had Pansio 4R artificial color. The mean and standard deviation of sodium benzoate in samples were 990.62 mg kg-1 and 396.07 mg kg-1, respectively. According to the national standard of Iran for canned tomato paste, adding any kind of preservative and color to tomato paste is prohibited. The results show the importance monitoring of sodium benzoate and artificial colors in bulk tomato paste by health authorities.