Simultaneous determination of nine kinds of preservatives in foods by HPLC

A simple and rapid HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of nine kinds of preservatives, benzoic acid (BA), sorbic acid (SOA), dehydroacetic acid (DHA), methyl p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBA-Me), ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBA-Et), isopropyl p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBA-isoPu), propyl p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBA-Pu), isobutyl p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBA-isoBu) and butyl p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBA-Bu), in foods. For solid foods, the preservatives were extracted with methanol. After addition of 5 mmol/L citrate buffer to the extract, the extract solution was cleaned up on an Oasis HLB cartridge. The cartridge was washed with 5 mmol/L citrate buffer and methanol-5 mmol/L citrate buffer (4: 6). Then, nine kinds of preservatives were eluted with methanol. The eluent was used for BA, SOA and DHA determination by HPLC. Furthermore, a part of the eluent was cleaned up on a Bond Elut PSA cartridge for p-hydroxybenzoate esters determination by HPLC. Liquid foods were cleaned up after addition of 5 mmol/L citrate buffer without the extraction process, and the subsequent procedure was the same as for solid foods. The recoveries of p-hydroxybenzoate esters from ten kinds of foods fortified at levels of 0.01 and 0.10 g/kg each were 91.5 to 107.4%, and those of BA, SOA and DHA were 76.4 to 104.8%. The quantitation limits of the preservatives in foods were 0.005 g/kg.