Comparison of four methods for digesting food samples for determination of trace levels of cadmium by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988 · J. Assoc. Off. Anal. Chem.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6676675

Cabanis, M T; Cassanas, G; Cabanis, J C; Brun, S

The authors compared 4 digestion procedures, namely, sulfuric-nitric acid in an open flask, nitric acid under pressure, sulfuric-nitric acid with refluxing, and nitric-hydrochloric-peroxide with refluxing, for the determination of cadmium by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry in 3 foodstuffs: rice, beef, and cream cheese. The foodstuffs were homogenized and divided into several batches for analysis. The results were evaluated using a 2-way cross analysis of variance. The study revealed that the digestion procedure was a highly significant factor (P < 10/sup -4/) in the analysis of the 3 foods; whereas the nature of the foodstuffs was not significant for rice and meat and only slightly significant (P < 10/sup -2/) for cream cheese. When the foodstuffs were spiked with a known amount of cadmium, they observed a loss of the metal when the sulfuric-nitric acid procedure in an open flask and the nitric-hydrochloric-peroxide digestion procedure were used. Taken together, the results of the present study indicate that the choice of the reagents used for digestion of foodstuffs is a crucial factor for cadmium determination by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

• Research Organization: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and Industrial Physics, Montpellier (France)
• OSTI ID: 6676675
• Journal Information: J. Assoc. Off. Anal. Chem.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Assoc. Off. Anal. Chem.; (United States) Vol. 71:5; ISSN JANCA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism &amp; Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
CADMIUM
CEREALS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIGESTION
ELEMENTS
FOOD
GRASS
MEAT
METALS
MILK PRODUCTS
PLANTS
REAGENTS
RICE
SPECTROSCOPY
TRACE AMOUNTS