Czech J. Food Sci., 2009, 27(10):S407-S409 | DOI: 10.17221/1068-CJFS

Determination of Tin in Canned Foods by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

J. Knápek^{1, *}, V. Herman², R. Buchtová¹, D. Vošmerová¹

¹ Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic

² The Secondary Technical School of Chemistry, 614 00 Brno

Atomic absorption spectrometry is a powerful technique for determination of tin in canned foods. Homogenous samples of syrup and solid parts were digested by means of microwave digestion system MLS 1200 MEGA where hydrochloric and nitric acid were used as reagents. The measurements were carried out using a Perkin-Elmer AAnalyst 700 atomic absorption spectrometer. Detection limit was 4 mg/kg in nitrous oxide and acetylene flame. There were analysed 222 samples of 26 various kinds of canned fruit (e.g. pineapple, peach, mandarin), vegetables (e.g. bean, mushroom, tomato) and meat (sea products) in this work. The analytical results indicated tin total concentrations from under 4 mg/kg to 353 mg/kg. Different concentrations of tin between syrup and fruit were observed. The concentration of tin was higher in solid parts than in syrup. Relationship between the concentration and time period after opening was studied. The corrosion of the tinplate surface was accelerated by air and the amount of dissolved tin was significantly increasing in syrup as well as fruit when cans were opened and stored for two days at 6°C.

Keywords: tin; canned food; atomic absorption spectrometry

Published: June 30, 2009  Show citation