Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis of sixteen red beverages containing carminic acid: Identification of degradation products by using principal component analysis/discriminant analysis

To identify the dye degradation products in a very complex scenario, a methodology was used, based on the combined use of principal component analysis with discriminant analysis and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem high resolution mass spectrometry. The methodology is unaffected by beverage composition and allows the degradation products of carminic acid dye to be identified for each beverage.