Abstrakt

Determination of the concentration of benzoic acid and sorbic acid in ready to serve products using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

H W C Krishanthi Karunarathne

 Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate are two of the most common chemical preservatives used in ready-to-eat foods. A total of 50 commercial brands of heavily consumed, ready-to-serve items were examined in this report. The preservatives were determined by HPLC using a reversed??? Phase C18 column and UV detection at 235nm. Flow rate is around 1.2ml/min. Mix 50 volume parts ammonium acetate solution with 40 volume parts methanol for HPLC eluent and switch with acetic acid to a pH of 4.5 to 4.6. Authentic external standards sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate were used to determine the preservative concentration in samples. The minimum and maximum concentrations of benzoate content in different brands were 80ppm and 874ppm, respectively, and the minimum and maximum concentrations of sorbate were 60ppm and 562ppm, respectively, in 50 samples. Exposure to these chemical preservatives could be harmful to people's health, especially if they're consumed in a variety of foods at the same time.