Form Three Students Use Purple Cabbage To Detect Artificial Colouring In Food, Drinks

BACHOK, Oct 14 (Bernama) -- Three Form Three students of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Dato’ Ahmad Maher have successfully created an innovative product called ‘Colourguard’, which uses purple cabbage extract to detect artificial colouring in food and beverages.

Team leader Muhammad Ameer Jamaludin said the product was the result of a study that found that purple cabbage contains anthocyanin, which is a natural substance that reacts to the acidity levels (ability to change colour according to pH levels) and chemicals found in artificially coloured foods.

He said the product, which was created with his two friends, Syed Adheem Syed Khairudin and Muhammad Aiman ​​Hakim Najeli, not only helps consumers detect unsafe colouring, but also supports healthy eating practices and the use of natural ingredients.

“This product is made completely from natural ingredients and is safe to use. Purple cabbage is also cheap and easily available in the market. The preparation method is simple...just boil the purple cabbage for about 15 minutes before straining the liquid to use as a detection agent, akin to a litmus test where paper treated with a natural dye (extracted from lichen) tests for alkalinity or acidity.

“Once the detection solution is ready, the user only needs to place a small sample of food or drink on a cotton swab and to drip the purple cabbage solution on it. If a colour change occurs within 30 to 40 seconds, it indicates that the food or drink contains synthetic colouring,” he said after presenting the innovation at the Kelantan-level Festival of Ideas (FOI) 2025 at the Chancellor's Hall in Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) Bachok Campus today.

The Colourguard product also met with success when it won the gold medal for the Best Cluster Award (Science) in the secondary school category. The award was presented by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Chang Lih Kang.

Sharing further, Muhammad Ameer said the idea for the innovative product emerged to raise public awareness on the dangers of excessive use of artificial colouring and to encourage the use of natural dyes.

“We started developing this product about two weeks ago after learning about this competition. This idea was born after we realised the negative effects of excessive synthetic colouring which can harm the kidneys and cause hyperactivity in children.

"With this product, we hope to raise consumer awareness on food safety and reduce the use of artificial colouring in the food industry," he also said.

Muhammad Ameer also intends to improve the innovative product in the near future to optimise the use of purple cabbage as a synthetic colouring detector with continuous guidance from their mentor teacher, Mohd Zaidi Mat.

-- BERNAMA