Abstract:

A new method was developed for the direct determination of harmful elements, such as Pb and As, in food additive DL-tartaric acid with axial view ICP-AES through simultaneous elevation of RF emission power and atomization gas flux. The working parameters of ICP-AES were optimized in this study. The results showed that the limits of detection (LODs) of Pb and As by this method were 0.003 mg/L and 0.005 mg/L, respectively, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.25 mg/kg and 0.41 mg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of Pb and As at two spiked amounts of 0.50 mg/kg and 1.00 mg/kg were 96.2% to 105.6%, and the relative standard deviations were 1.82% to 2.42%. In conclusion, this method can meet the demand of determining harmful elements in food additive DL-tartaric acid.

Key words: axial view inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry（ICP-AES）, food additive, DLtartaric acid, harmful elements