View Report Details

Intakes of sulphur-containing additives, their stability in food during storage and validation of a methof for their detection

Project Code: A01021

02/08/2011

Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee
Edmond, L ; Magee, E; Cummings, J

Methods for the detection of sulphate and sulphites in foods and beverages by Ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) were developed. No compounds were found to interfere with the sulphate peak for these methods. The sulphite method involved conversion of sulphite to sulphate by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and subsequent quantitation of sulphite from the increase in the sulphate area. Eliminating the requirement for distillation provided advantages such as speed, accuracy and sample size over the current Monier-Williams AOAC (Association of Analytical Committees) method.
A wide range of both unsulphited and sulphited foods and beverages were analysed for sulphite and sulphate. Results showed that a large proportion of the sulphate present was derived from sulphite. Sulphite levels at the point of consumption were generally within regulatory limits.
This research has demonstrated that large but variable proportions of sulphiting agents oxidise to sulphate during manufacture and, to a lesser degree, during storage.

Final report

Some of the files on this site may be in a format that your computer can't read. However, you can download Readers and Viewers for the following document types below: