DETERMINATION OF ARSENIC IN DRY ASHED SEAFOOD PRODUCTS BY HYDRIDE GENERATION ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY AND A CRITICAL COMPARATIVE-STUDY WITH PLATFORM FURNACE ZEEMAN-EFFECT ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY AND INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA ATOMIC EMISSION-SPECTROMETRY

A hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometric (HG-AAS) method was developed for the determination of arsenic in mussel products as part of a general plan to control this element in seafood products. Organic matter is destroyed by the dry ashing technique, the ash is dissolved in HNO3, diluted in HCl, and hydrides of arsenic are generated by the addition of sodium tetrahydroborate prior to atomization in a flame-heated quartz cell and measurement by atomic absorption spectrometry. The detection limit (0.017-mu-g g-1), precision (3%), recovery (100 +/- 4%) and accuracy (determined by analysing NIST Oyster Tissue) were evaluated and an interference study was carried out. A comparative study of HG-AAS, platform furnace Zeeman-effect AAS and inductively coupled atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) showed that the most suitable technique for the determination of arsenic in seafood products is ICP-AES. For samples with arsenic levels below the detection limit of this technique (0.1-mu-g g-1) the alternative is the use of HG-AAS.