Abstract

Under the coordination of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Rome, Italy, and of the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements of the Joint Research Centre, European Commission (EC-JRC-IRMM), Geel, Belgium, a new certified reference material (CRM) for trace elements based on Antarctic krill was produced. The instrumental techniques resorted to in the certification project included flame, hydride generation, cold vapour and electrothermal atomization atomic absorption spectrometry (with and without Zeeman background correction), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, quadrupole and magnetic sector high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and neutron activation analysis. The certified values established for selected trace elements are as follows (in µg g⁻¹ ± the 95% confidence interval): As, 5.02 ± 0.40; Cd, 0.73 ± 0.06; Co, 0.110 ± 0.010; Cu, 65.2 ± 2.3; Fe, 56.6 ± 2.3; Mn, 4.12 ± 0.10; Ni, 1.28 ± 0.12; Pb, 1.11 ± 0.09; Se, 7.37 ± 1.13; and Zn, 66.0 ± 2.0. Each value was obtained by combining data of several laboratories provided that four or more independent methods of analysis were used. For several other elements (Ag, Al, Br, Ca, Cl, Cr, Hg, I, K, Mg, Na, Rb, Sc, Sn, Sr and V) informative concentrations were given whenever the above criteria could not be respected.