Abstract:

A novel method, indirect atomic absorption spectrometry, was established to determine oxalate in food. During the process of sample treatment, excessive calcium chloride was quantitatively added to generate calcium oxalate precipitation with oxalic acid. Followed by centrifugation, remaining calcium ions in supernatant were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The content of oxalate in food was calculated indirectly. A good linear of this method was observed in the range of 0－8.0 mg/L and the recovery rate was 98.1%－98.4% under the optimal determination condition. Therefore, this novel method is suitable for the determination of oxalate in food due to its high precision, high sensitivity and low detection limit.

Key words: atomic absorption spectrometry, indirect, food, oxalate