Abstract

This study was performed to develop an analytical method using Carrez reagents as the precipitant to effectively and easily remove proteins and lipids while pretreating samples for the simultaneous determination of preservatives, including dehydroacetic acid (DHA), sorbic acid (SA), benzoic acid (BA), methyl ρ-hydroxybenzoate (MP), ethyl ρ-hydroxybenzoate (EP), propyl ρ-hydroxybenzoate (PP), isopropyl ρ-hydroxybenzoate (IPP), butyl ρ-hydroxybenzoate (BP), and isobutyl ρ-hydroxybenzoate (IBP). The effective selectivity was determined by HPLC separation analysis for nine preservatives in the test solution, after removing interfering materials such as lipids and proteins. The method developed in this study showed excellent linearity at 0.999 or higher. The limit of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.09 to ~0.12 mg/L and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was ~0.280.37 mg/L. The results of the recovery test on processed foods, including pickles, cheeses, processed meat products, beverages, sauces, and emulsified foods showed DHA, SA, BA, MP, EP, IPP, PP, IBP, and BP at 90.9~107.7 %, 85.4~113.7 %, 90.7~111.6 %, 84.5~111.2 %, 81.3~110.9 %, 82.5~102.2 %, 81.1~110.0 %, 80.9~109.0 %, and 82.4~110.3 %, respectively. The probability of the simultaneous analytical method developed in this study as a quantitative method was confirmed for various processed foods.