Ion chromatographic determination of chlorite and chlorate in chlorinated food using a hydroxide eluent

Abstract

This study was conducted to develop an analytical technique for determination of chlorite and chlorate concentrations in fresh-cut food and dried fish products by an ion chromatography/conductivity detection method using a hydroxide mobile phase. Deionized water was added to homogenized samples, which were then extracted by ultrasound extraction and centrifuged at high speed (8,500 rpm). Subsequently, a Sep-Pak tC18 cartridge was used to purify the supernatant. Chlorite and chlorate ions were separated using 20 mM KOH solution as the mobile phase and Dionex IonPac AS27 column as the stationary phase. Ethylenediamine was used as sample preservative and dibromoacetate was added to adjust for the disparity in extraction efficiencies between the food samples. The method detection limit) for chlorite and chlorate were estimated to be 0.2 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively, and the coefficient of determination (r2) that denotes the linearity of their calibration curves were correspondingly measured to be 0.9973 and 0.9987. The recovery rate for each ion was 92.1 % and 96.3 %, with relative standard deviations of 7.47 % and 6.18 %, respectively. Although neither chlorite nor chlorate was detected in the food samples, the analytical technique developed in this study may potentially be used in the analysis of disinfected food products.