Teledyne Leeman Labs recently used its Prodigy7 ICP-OES to analyze beverages for mineral and heavy metal content. The goal of the analysis was to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system and method in measuring mineral and heavy metal content in a variety of beverage samples. The results of the analysis were compared with the drinking water standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization.
Fast and Accurate Analysis
The presence of toxic elements in food and beverages can be detrimental to human health so it’s critical to the public to find a fast and accurate method to measure the levels of contamination and identify the source. The Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) can analyze food and beverage samples and save time and materials by directly eliminating the digestion step.
What is the Prodigy7?
The Prodigy7 is a compact bench-top simultaneous optical emission instrument featuring a 500 mm focal length Echelle optical system coupled with a mega-pixel Large Format CMOS (L-CMOS) detector. At 28 mm2, the active area of the L-CMOS detector is significantly larger than any other solid-state detector currently used for ICP-OES. This combination allows the Prodigy7 to achieve higher optical resolution than other solid-state detector based ICP systems. The spectrometer was equipped with a dual view torch.
Sample Preparation
Leeman Labs analyzed three different beverages for the test, including 100 percent apple juice, California red wine and concentrated energy drink. Duplicate samples “were prepared by weighting 20 g of each sample into 100 mL volumetric flasks for heavy metal content, and 1.0 or 2.0 g of each sample into 100 mL volumetric flasks for mineral content. Flasks were brought to final volume with deionized water.” The first set of samples was not modified while the second set was spiked to help calculate spike recoveries.
Successful Test
The instrument and method used to analyze the beverages were successful at quickly and effectively measuring the mineral and heavy metal content of the beverage samples. When compared with the EPA and WHO drinking water standards, most of the trace contaminants fell below the allowable limits except for arsenic found in the red wine.
For complete details about operation parameters, calibration standards and sample prepration, as well as results and conclusions of the analysis, download Application Note - Analysis of Mineral and Heavy Metal Content in Beverages Using the Teledyne Leeman Lab’s Prodigy7 ICP-OES
