[Simultaneous determination of various aseptics and sweeteners in milk and dairy products]

A method for simultaneous determination of acesulfame, benzoic acid, sodium saccharin, sorbic acid, and aspartame in milk and dairy products using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed. The proteins in milk and dairy products were mostly eliminated by the precipitators. Three aseptics and two sweeteners were separated on a C18 column with the mobile phase of methanol-0.05 mol/L potassium dihydrogen phosphate under gradient elution. With a diode array detector, acesulfame, benzoic acid, and sorbic acid were detected at 230 nm and sodium saccharin and aspartame were detected at 210 nm. The recoveries were 96.0% - 103.5% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) in the range of 1.93% - 2.76%. The detection limits of acesulfame, benzoic acid, sodium saccharin, sorbic acid and aspartame were 1.0, 1.0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 microg/g, respectively. This method can be used for the routine analysis of these additives in milk and dairy products.