Determination of preservatives in meat products by flow injection analysis (FIA)

Various preservatives are added to meat products to extend shelf-life and enhance food safety; thus, their determination is essential for legislative purposes and consumer health. Analytical methodologies based on flow injection analysis (FIA) offer attractive advantages compared with other procedures, such as versatility, precision, low cost, speed and ease of automation. This review considers the status of published FIA methodologies for the determination of preservatives in meat products. The techniques are described regarding their application to different preservatives (nitrates and nitrites, sulfites, sorbates, benzoates and p-hydroxybenzoate esters), with emphasis on extraction, separation, detection and quantification procedures in meat matrices.