Isotachophoretic determination of added phosphate in meat products

From the phosphate content in meat and meat protein a new ratio of free (non-protein) phosphate/protein (16±2 mg/g) was calculated. From the level of soluble phosphate determined by capillary isotachophoresis (CITP), protein content determined by Kjeldahl method and with the use of the earlier-mentioned ratio the amount of added phosphates could be calculated. The method was compared with the spectrophotometric dry-ashing reference method on 34 samples and good agreement was found.