Elemental Analysis of Solid Food Materials Using a Reliable LaserAblation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry Method

Quantification of trace and minor nutrient elements is crucial for maintaining human health. A reliable laser ablationinductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) method for food materials was developed by combiningfine foodpowder (dm<3 mu m) pellets as the external standard with an averageCcontent as the internal standard (IS). Thefiner andhomogeneous aerosol produced by ablating thefine powder pellets is beneficial for transportation and analyte ionization in ICP,which helps alleviate the matrix effects and improves the analytical precision and accuracy. The averageCcontent is 39.9 +/- 1.9% forplant-derived foods (n= 22) and 46.9 +/- 1.1% for animal-derived foods (n= 7). The accuracy (recovery, 80-120%) and precision(RSD, 0.5-9.8%) were validated by analyzing a series of food certified reference materials. The high-throughput method is apromising alternative for routine sample analysis in food safety laboratories.

Automated summary

A reliable LA-ICP-MS method for analyzing food materials was developed by using fine food powder pellets as the external standard and average C content as the internal standard. This method provides accuracy and precision and is suitable for high-throughput analysis in food safety laboratories.