Possibilità di utilizzo dell'ICP-AES nell'ispezione degli alimenti di origine animale

Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) is usually used in food inspection to determined heavy metals concentrations. This technique is very sensitive but it has some drawbark: mainly the short dynarnic ramge and the fact that it is a monoelemental technique making it tíme consuming and expensive. These limitations oould be solved by its substitution with Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission spectrophotometry (ICP-AES) which has not been very considered tlll now because of the insensitivity of old instruments. The limits of detection of a moderm ICP-AES have been calculated for 21 elements of nutritional and toxicological inteest. The limit of detection of Cd, Hg and Pb achievable by ICP-AES have been compared to the legal tolerances set by the European Union. The sensitivity of ICP-AES proved to be enouqh to fulfil the legal requirements for Cd, Hg and Pb. Only the detection of lead in milk could be difficult due to the veru low tolerance for the metal in this matrix, though an ultrasonic nebulizer could help to achieve this analytical purpose. Overall ICP-AES proved to be a useful tool in food inspection as it can give inlormation both on the toxicological and the nutritional value of a food item in a single five minutes analytical run.