Abstract: An inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) method for the determination of dimethylpolysiloxanes (PDMS) in animal muscle, edible fat and oil, baking powder, and fruits and vegetables was developed. PDMS in samples were extracted with aviation kerosene, and the extract were then centrifuged and directly detected by ICPAES. The average recovery rates of PDMS at the spiked levels of 5, 10, 100 mg/kg in the muscle of chicken, beef and pork, and in cucumber and pineapple; 1, 2, 10 mg/kg in soybean oil, peanut oil and palm oil, and 2.5, 5, 10 mg/kg in baking powder ranged from 71.2% to 122.9% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 15%. The linearity of the developed method was in the range of 0.1 to 50 mg/L with correlation coefficients (r) of more than 0.995. The limits of detection were approximately 5.0 mg/kg for animal muscle, and fruits and vegetables, 1.0 mg/kg for edible fat and oil, and 2.5 mg/kg for baking powder. This simple, rapid and sensitive method allows for routine qualitative and quantitative analysis of PDMS in selected foodstuffs and can be used for the test of a large number of samples.

Key words: inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, dimethylpolysiloxanes, foodstuffs