The determination of sulphur dioxide in meats

Abstract

Several methods were compared in determining sulphur dioxide in meat samples that contained no added sulphur dioxide but that had various pH values, in order to determine whether or not false positive results were obtained owing to the presence of hydrogen sulphide in the meat. The recovery of sulphur dioxide that had been added to meat samples was also studied.

An iodimetric method gave false positive results for sulphur dioxide. A modified Monier-Williams method did not give false positive results, but it has limited sensitivity, giving a possible error of ±6·4 p.p.m. with a 10-g sample. The relative merits of each method are discussed.