Reverse phase liquid chromatographic determination of some food additives

Liquid chromatographic methods are described for the separation and determination of non-nutritive sweeteners, namely, acesulfame, aspartame, saccharin, and dulcin; preservatives such as benzoic acid and p-hydroxybenzoic acid; and caffeine and vanillin in ready-to-serve beverages, ice candy, ice cream, squash beverage, tomato sauce, and dry beverage mix samples. These additives are separated on a muBondapak C18 column using methanol-acetic acid-water (20 + 5 + 75) as mobile phase and detected by UV absorption at 254 nm. Caffeine, vanillin, dulcin, and benzoic acid can be analyzed quickly by using a mobile phase of methanol-acetic acid-water (35 + 5 + 60). Aspartame can be separated in the presence of caffeine and vanillin by using the mobile phase pH 3 acetate buffer-methanol (95 + 5). Retention factors and minimum detectable limits are described. The percentage error and the percent relative standard deviation for 6 replicate samples ranged from 0.3 to 2.8 and from 1.64 to 3.60, respectively. Recovery of additives added to the foods named and analyzed by the direct method and by extraction ranged from 98.0 to 100.6% and from 91.6 to 101.8%, respectively. The proposed LC techniques are simple, rapid, and advantageous because all the additives can be detected in a single step, which makes it useful for the routine analysis of various food products.