Two simple methods for sulfite determination in food products were proposed. The modified para-rosaniline (PRA)-formaldehyde method showed a much broader linear range (0.05–5.0 mg l1 as SO2) than the commonly used procedure for the sulfur dioxide detection in the atmosphere (0.05–1.0 mg l1 as SO2). By using a standard reference color card, this method only needed 5 min to complete a test.