Uwe Oppermann

Strict and steady food control protects consumers against undesired contaminations and guarantees a high level of quality. This can be achieved by enforcing maximum allowable concentrations of hazardous substances. For simultaneous quantitative determination of the inorganic elements in wine, the ICP-MS technique is the preferred quality control tool. ICP-MS offers high sensitivity (trace detection), a wide dynamic range and a high sample throughput. In this study, commercially available red and white wines were investigated; 14 different elements were quantified simultaneously: arsenic, cadmium, caesium, copper, chromium, vanadium, iron, manganese, nickel, lead, selenium, tin, thallium and zinc. The developed ICP-MS method has a high accuracy, regardless of element concentration.

The authors compare LC–MS/MS methods for quantification of the pesticide glyphosate with and without sample derivatization, and discuss ICP-MS methods for the determination of heavy metals.