Supervisors info:
Προεστός Χαράλαμπος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Χημείας, Εργαστήριο Χημείας Τροφίμων, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
Arsenic constitutes one of the most toxic trace elements found in the environment both as organic and inorganic forms. The total inorganic As (in As) is the sum of As(III) and As(V), which are considered carcinogenic. Besides being carcinogen, it also causes a wide range of adverse health effects such as skin lesions, abnormal glucose metabolism, cardiovascular diseases etc. However, the susceptibility to the toxic effects differs considerably between individuals and populations depending on factors such as age, gender and nutritional habits. The main source of human exposure to in As is via the food chain. Among agricultural products, rice as a bio-accumulative plant and staple food for half the world’s population, contributes significantly to in As human intake. Despite its high toxicity, regulatory limits of in As in foodstuffs have been established recently by regulation EU 2015/1006. Specifically, maximum levels of in As for non-parboiled milled rice and parboiled, husked rice must be 0.20 and 0.25 mg/kg, respectively. Significantly lower limits have also been set for commodities such as rice-based products and food destined for the vulnerable portion of consumers, like infants and young children (0.30 and 0.10 mg/kg, respectively). Consequently, the selective determination of in As is nowadays considered a challenge for food analysts.
The present work describes the development of a method for determination of inAs in rice flour by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), avoiding the conjunction of HPLC by ICP-MS, which is the most common analytical technique internationally applied, in order to make the analysis simple and rapid. Accuracy and trueness of the method were tested by measuring certified reference materials and validation components based on international standard ISO 17025 requirements.
Keywords:
toxic trace element, inorganic arsenic, selective determination, rice flour, inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry
