Simultaneous Determination of Preservatives in Dairy Products by HPLC and Chemometric Analysis

Cheese and yogurt are two kinds of nutritious dairy products that are used worldwide. The major preservatives in dairy products are sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, and natamycin. The maximum permitted levels for these additives in cheese and yogurt are established according to Iranian national standards. In this study, we developed a method to detect these preservatives in dairy products by reversed phase chromatography with UV detection in 220 nm, simultaneously. This method was performed on C₁₈ column with ammonium acetate buffer (pH = 5) and acetonitrile (73 : 27 v/v) as mobile phase. The method was carried out on 195 samples in 5 kinds of commercial cheeses and yogurts. The results demonstrated insufficient separation where limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) ranged from 0.326 to 0.520 mg/kg and 0.989 to 1.575 mg/kg in benzoate and sorbate, respectively. The correlation coefficient of each calibration curve was mostly higher than 0.997. All samples contained sodium benzoate in various ranges. Natamycin and sorbate were detected in a remarkable amount of samples, while, according to Iranian national standard, only sorbate is permitted to be added in processed cheeses as a preservative. In order to control the quality of dairy products, determination of preservatives is necessary.