Multielemental Determinations in Chocolate Drink Powder Using Multivariate Optimization and ICP OES

Abstract

In this work multivariate experiments were conducted to optimize the operating conditions for inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) for multielemental determinations in chocolate drink powder. The operating conditions were investigated using a 2(3) central composite design, where the variables studied were radio frequency power, nebulization flow rate, and auxiliary argon flow rate. The effects of these parameters on plasma robustness and on signal to background ratio (SBR) were considered in parallel, allowing the evaluation of robustness and detectability using few and fast experiments to select the best conditions for the determination of the analytes. In this case, the proposed experiments were applied to the optimization of a method aimed at the determination of Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, P, Pb, V, and Zn in chocolate drink powder. The compromise conditions that allowed obtaining a robust and sensitive analytical method were radio frequency power of 1200 W, nebulization flow rate of 0.6 L/min, and auxiliary argon flow rate of 0.3 L/min. Using these conditions, recoveries between 95 and 105% and relative standard deviations lower than 5% were obtained for the majority of the analytes. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of 15 samples of chocolate drink powder. The highest concentrations of metallic species were found in diet and light products.

Scientific Opinion on the risks to public health related to the presence of nickel in food and drinking water

“…The Ni concentrations in 15 samples of chocolate drink powder purchased in the local market of Campinas, State of São Paulo, in Brazil were all < LOQ of 0.79 mg/kg (Peixoto et al, 2012). In 223 Brazilian samples of fruits (n = 89), leafy vegetables (n = 34), green vegetables (n = 74) and 'general' vegetables (n = 26), Ni content ranged from non-detected (n.d.) to 0.40 mg/kg, from 0.07 to 0.70 mg/kg, from 0.10 to 0.74 mg/kg, and from 0.06 to 0.47 mg/kg, respectively (Guerra et al, 2012).…”

Manganese levels in infant formula and young child nutritional beverages in the United States and France: Comparison to breast milk and regulations

“…Two of the products in this study were not supplemented with Mn and used chocolate as an ingredient (Fig 1). Chocolate has a relatively high native concentration of Mn [98,104–107]. Thus, chocolate is a possible source of the relatively high maximum concentration of Mn in the 2 “chocolate” products, 220 μg/100 kcal.…”

“…Complementary foods are not covered by the CAC Standard for Follow-Up Formula [89]. This sample was not supplemented with Mn but contained chocolate, which can have a large effect on the concentration of Mn (Fig 1 and Table 3) [98,104–107].…”

“…Of the 2 products that exceeded 100 μg of Mn/100 kcal and did not contain supplemental Mn, 1 was soy-based and the other contained chocolate. These ingredients can have a large effect on the concentration of Mn (Fig 1 and Table 3) [93,98,104–107].…”

Analytical Method for the Determination of Trace Toxic Elements in Milk Based on Combining Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Accelerated UV Fenton-like Digestion and Solid Phase Extraction

“…Consequently, there is a growing interest in developing green sample pretreatment procedures that produce less hazardous wastes to the environment. − For the determination of trace metals in solid or organic matrix food samples by atomic spectrometry, samples need to be digested into homogeneous aqueous solutions prior to their analyses. Typically, digestion is carried out by either open-vessel or closed-vessel techniques with relative large amounts of concentrated acids (e.g., HCl, HNO 3 , H 2 SO 4 ) at high temperature conditions. − Major drawbacks of open-vessel digestion techniques include the potential analyte loss and generation of toxic acid mist through volatilization. Closed-vessel digestion techniques, especially microwave assisted-digestion, can reduce digestion time, minimize analyte loss, and alleviate toxic wastes.…”