An efficient and accurate analytical method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 20 synthetic food additives,including three sweeteners,seven food colorants,nine synthetic preservatives and caffeine,by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with photodiode array detector (PDA).This method permits the detection of food additives at very low concentrations (0.005-0.150 μg/mL).The applicability was verified by the determination of food additives present in various foodstuffs.