Determination of food colorants in a wide variety of food matrices by microemulsion electrokinetic capillary chromatography. Considerations on the found concentrations and regulated consumption limits

•A simple, fast, reliable and versatile microemulsion electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEEKC) method was development.•Environmentally- friendly colorant quantification was achieved using this MEEKC method.•16 samples from a wide variety of product types were analyzed.•Colorant consumption poses a risk especially for population under 18 years of age.