Mussel tissue powder, a certified reference material

Abstract

Mussel tissue powder reference material was prepared from whole soft parts of common mussels (Mytilus edulis). The mussel tissue was cryogenically ground, freeze-dried, sieved to pass an 80-mesh screen, blended, bottled and finally sterilised by Co-60 radiation. The prepared material satisfied the homogeneity criteria for a reference material. Matrix interference effects in inductively coupled plasma atomic-emission and graphite furnace atomic-absorption analyses of the material were investigated; for the determination of trace elements by graphite furnace atomic-absorption spectrometry a standard additions procedure was used.

Certification of the material was performed using the data obtained by various analytical techniques and certified values are provided for fourteen elements. The elemental composition of the mussel certified reference material is similar to those of mussels collected from unpolluted waters.