An ICP-MS-Based Analytical Strategy for Assessing Compliance with the Ban of E 171 as a Food Additive on the EU Market

Abstract

A method was developed for the determination of total titanium in food and food supplements by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after microwave-assisted acid digestion of samples. Five food supplements, including one certified reference material, and 15 food products were used for method development. Key factors affecting the analytical results, such as the composition of the acid mixture for sample digestion and the bias from spectral interferences on the different titanium isotopes, were investigated. Resolution of interferences was achieved by ICP-MS/MS with ammonia adduct formation and viable conditions for control laboratories equipped with standard quadrupole instruments were identified. The method was successfully validated and enables rapid screening of samples subject to confirmatory analysis for the presence of TiO2 particles. For the latter, single-particle ICP-MS (spICP-MS) analysis after chemical extraction of the particles was used. The two methods establish a viable analytical strategy for assessing the absence of titania particles in food products on the EU market following the E 171 ban as a food additive.

Using Single-Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry to Determine the Changes of Silver Nanoparticles in Bread Induced via Simulated Digestion

“…The basics are described, for example, in the papers [8][9][10][11]. As far as the application of sp-ICP-MS in food analysis is concerned, this technique was recently used for the determination of AgNPs in ground beef [12], for the determination of TiO 2 NPs in various foods [13], for the stability tests of ZnONPs released from food-packaging materials [14], and for the determination of a wider range of inorganic nanoparticles (Al 2 O 3 NPs, SiO 2 NPs, TiO 2 NPs, Cr 2 O 3 NPs, Fe 2 O 3 NPs, CuONPs, ZnONPs) in various foodstuffs [15].…”