Simultaneous analysis of acidulants and preservatives in food samples by using capillary zone electrophoresis with indirect UV detection

Capillary zone electrophoresis with indirect UV detection was developed for the simultaneous analysis of acidulants and preservatives in food samples. When a solution of tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane, trimellitic acid and poly (vinyl alcohol) was used as the background electrolyte, the nine acidulants and four preservatives listed in the Japanese Food Sanitation Law were detected within 8 min. The calibration curves plotted from the peak height of each analyte were linear with a correlation coefficient of 0.99. The relative standard deviations (n = 10) of the peak height ranged from 1.2% to 4.7%. The detection limits for these species ranged from 0.6 to 5.3 mg/L at a signal-to-noise ratio of three. The method developed method was applied to the simultaneous analysis of acidulants and preservatives in a wide variety of food samples.