Gas chromatographic determination of calcium propionate added as preservative to bread

A simple and rapid gas chromatographic procedure was developed for determining low concentrations of propionate added as a preservative to bread. A bread sample to be analyzed was ground in a meat grinder with a 3 mm hole plate and finely divided by rubbing through a No. 8 sieve. The propionate was then extracted into 0.050M formic acid in a blender at low speed for 5 min, and an aliquot of a filtrate was analyzed directly by gas chromatography. Chromatographic separation was accomplished on a Carbopack C column coated with 0.3% (w/w) Carbowax 20M and 0.1% (w/w) phosphoric acid. Less than 0.2 ppm propionic acid could be detected in the aqueous extract. Over the range of 0.03-0.23% calcium propionate, average relative error was -1.20% with an average coefficient of variation of 2.02%.