Determination of selenium in foods by inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and hydride generation

Within the framework of a survey launched by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità to assess the average daily intake of Se with food in the Italian population, a preliminary study was carried out to develop an analytical procedure for the quantification of the element in food products. The method implies the use of a hydride generation system in combination with inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and exploits the inherent advantages of this last also for the analysis of non-metals. The overall approach was tested in some Hungarian and Italian foods, adequately lending itself to routine and reliable Se assay.