Abstract:

The contents of impurity elements including Mg, Al, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb from the food
preservative calcium propionate were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).
Samples were dissolved and diluted with 5% (V/V) HNO3 before ICP-OES analysis. Detection wavelength, matrix effects and
plasma parameters were explored and the optimal working conditions for ICP-OES were established. The recovery rates for
spiked samples were between 91.2% and 110.6%, with relative standard deviation less than 3.9%. This method was simple,
sensitive and precise and was successfully applied to simultaneous determination of impurity elements in calcium propionate.

Key words: inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), food preservative, calcium propionate, impurity elements