Low gas flow inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry for the analysis of food samples after microwave digestion

In this work, the recently introduced low flow inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) with a total argon consumption below 0.7 L/min is applied for the first time to the field of food analysis. One goal is the investigation of the performance of this low flow plasma compared to a conventional ICP-OES system when non-aqueous samples with a certain matrix are introduced into the system. For this purpose, arsenic is determined in three different kinds of fish samples. In addition several nutrients (K, Na, Mg, Ca) and trace metals (Co, Cu, Mn, Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe, and Ni) are determined in honey samples (acacia) after microwave digestion. The precision of the measurements is characterized by relative standard deviations (RSD) and compared to the corresponding precision values achieved using the conventional Fassel-type torch of the ICP. To prove the accuracy of the low flow ICP-OES method, the obtained data from honey samples are validated by a conventional ICP-OES. For the measurements concerning arsenic in fish, the low flow ICP-OES values are validated by conventional Fassel-type ICP-OES. Furthermore, a certified reference material was investigated with the low gas flow setup. Limits of detection (LOD), according to the 3σ criterion, were determined to be in the low microgram per liter range for all analytes. Recovery rates in the range of 96–106% were observed for the determined trace metal elements. It was proven that the low gas flow ICP-OES leads to results that are comparable with those obtained with the Fassel-type torch for the analysis of food samples.