Method Validation For Direct Determination Of Some Trace And Toxic Elements In Soft Drinks By Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

The consumption of soft drink beverages has increased in the last few years around the world and it is related to the diversity of brands and flavours available, increasing also the risk of ingestion of compounds considered non-beneficial to the health of consumers. In this study, fast, easy and simple method of analysis for direct determination of As, Pb, Cd, Sb, Hg, Cu, Zn, Fe, Al, Cr, Sn, Co, Mn and Ni in soft drink samples using quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Q-ICP-MS) was validated. The estimated detection limits, practical quantification limits, linearity (linear dynamic ranges and method linearity), accuracy (trueness and precision) and measurement uncertainty parameters were studied under optimised (Q-ICP-MS) conditions. The method showed that the estimated detection limits were varied between 0.02 and 2.403 mu g/L, and the quantification limits were varied between 0.5 and 20 mu g/L. The mean recoveries +/- standard deviations at different spiking levels were varied between 75.03 +/- 0.62% and 117.07 +/- 2.83% and the coefficients of variation were varied between 0.49% and 9.79%. The method trueness was confirmed by using four different certified reference materials (soft drinks and treated water) purchased from FAPAS (Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme) and all obtained results were within satisfactory ranges and had acceptable recovery and Z-score values. The method precision, in terms of relative standard deviation, was below 4.88%. The method uncertainty expressed as expanded uncertainty of all validated elements was found to be <= 22.52%. The results obtained make the method suitable for accurate determination of validated elements in different kinds of soft drink samples at these low concentration values. Validated method was used for the determination of metallic contaminants in 40 commercial soft drink samples and the results were compared with the provisional guideline of the elements stated by Egyptian, WHO and European standards in drinking and potable bottled natural mineral water.