ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Analysis of Synthetic Food Colors and Food
Preservatives Inducing Genotoxicity in Garlic
(Allium sativum L.) Root Tip Cells
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1
Department of Botany, Government College University Lahore, Pakistan
2
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore, Pakistan
3
Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan
4
Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan
5
Department of Plant Biology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Submission date: 2024-10-14
Final revision date: 2025-01-13
Acceptance date: 2025-02-06
Online publication date: 2025-04-16
Publication date: 2026-04-21
Corresponding author
Hsi-Hsien Yang
Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan
Muhammad Umer Farooq Awan
Department of Botany, Government College University, Lahore Pakistan, Department of Botany, Government College Universit, 54000, Lahore, Pakistan
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2026;35(2):2173-2182
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Certain synthetic food additives have been found to induce DNA damage in plant cells, primarily
in the form of mutations and chromosomal abnormalities. This research aimed to assess the genotoxic
potential of two commonly used food colors (Allura red and tartrazine) and two preservatives (boric
acid and sodium benzoate) on the root cells of garlic (Allium sativum L.). Garlic roots were treated with
various concentrations of food colors (0.1, 01, and 10 g/L) and food preservatives (1, 2, and 4 g/L) for 24 h.
Root tip cells were observed under the microscope to check chromosomal abnormalities. The mitotic
index observed a maximum of 11.32% at a 10 g/L concentration of Allura red and 19.88% for tartrazine
at a 10 g/L concentration. The mitotic index for boric acid and sodium benzoate was maximum
(9.80 and 10.95%, respectively) at a concentration of 4 g/L each. An abnormality index was recorded for
Allura red (3.01%) and (2.98%) for tartrazine at a 10 g/L concentration. The abnormality index for boric
acid was highest (5.88%) at a concentration of 4 g/L. The abnormality index for sodium benzoate was
maximum at 5.17% at 4 g/L. Overall, genotoxicity increased with the increasing concentration of food
additives.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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