Safety Evaluation of Chocolate Brown Dye in Swiss albino Mice

Objective: Chocolate Brown is a brown synthetic diazo dye which is mainly used in chocolate cakes and also in other food products. The present study was designed to evaluate toxic effects of chocolate brown dye considering the biochemical and pathological parameters of Swiss albino mice. Methods: The experimental animals were subdivided into 3 groups such as control, group 1 (received chocolate brown dye at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight) and group 2 (received chocolate brown dye at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight) containing 5 mice in each of the groups. Different group of mice were fed with normal diet for 25 days and their body weight was taken every day. At 26th day their blood serum and some organ was collected for conducting biochemical and pathological analysis. Results: During this study a remarkable increase in body weight was noticed in case of group 2 when compared to the control group. But surprisingly group 1 showed less increase in body weight than control group. This study showed that the weight of liver, heart and kidney was increased in case of group 2. While group 1 showed increased in heart weight but its kidney and liver weight was actually lower in comparison to the control group. Furthermore we have also found a significant raise in blood bilirubin level when dose increased from 200 mg/kg to 400 mg/kg. All the tests showed that chocolate brown dye is more poisonous at higher dose compared to lower one. Conclusion: Considering the inferential data on the physiological and biochemical parameters of mice the study recommends the withdrawal of the chocolate brown dye from the local market. People should be more concern about the hazardous effects of chocolate brown dye.