In this paper, a simple and cost effective method was developed for extraction and pre-concentration of
carmine in food samples by using cloud point extraction (CPE) prior to its spectrophotometric determination.
Carmine was extracted from aqueous solution using Triton X-100 as extracting solvent. The
effects of main parameters such as solution pH, surfactant and salt concentrations, incubation time
and temperature were investigated and optimized. Calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.04–
5.0 lgmL1 of carmine in the initial solution with regression coefficient of 0.9995. The limit of detection
(LOD) and limit of quantification were 0.012 and 0.04 lgmL1, respectively. Relative standard deviation
(RSD) at low concentration level (0.05 lgmL1) of carmine was 4.8% (n = 7). Recovery values in different
concentration levels were in the range of 93.7–105.8%. The obtained results demonstrate the proposed
method can be applied satisfactory to determine the carmine in food samples.