Polarographic determination of trace elements in food from a single digest

Abstract

The determination of 12 trace elements, namely copper, zinc, mercury, lead, cadmium, iron, tin, chromium, arsenic, antimony, selenium and tellurium, in admixture by means of a cathode-ray polarograph is described. The elements were investigated in concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 20 p.p.m. by means of normal, reverse-sweep or resistance-capacitance derivative techniques. The last technique could not be used for mercury, although it was used for all the other elements in concentrations less than 1 p.p.m. The complete determination took 4–7 h, and was applied to various kinds of food, such as bread, meat and vegetables.