Comparison of digestion procedures on commercial powdered soup samples for the determination of trace metal contents by atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

The concentrations of copper, manganese, zinc, iron and aluminum in commercial powdered soup samples produced in Turkey were determined using flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. We compared wet, dry and microwave digestion procedures for the digestion of the soup samples. The microwave digestion procedure for the soup samples was demonstrated to be most effective due to its simplicity and quick results. The accuracy of the method was checked against a standard reference material (SRM 8418 Wheat Gluten). Contents of investigated trace metals in soup samples ranged between 0.41 and 4.78 µg/g for copper, 1.29 and 49.4 µg/g for manganese, 1.26 and 22.5 µg/g for zinc, 4.62 and 61.7 µg/g for iron, and 6.86 and 547.7 µg/g for aluminum. The results were compared with values reported in the literature.