P C8. PRESERVATIVES CONTENT IN NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

B. Beljkaš, A. Mandić

Institute for Food Technology, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, Novi Sad, Serbia

Most widely used preservatives in non-alcoholic beverages are sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate. Different brands of non-alcoholic beverages available in local supermarkets were analyzed for those preservatives by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) followed by diode array detection. The HPLC separation of the preservatives was performed using a reversed-phase C18 column. Detection of separated compounds was carried out with DAD at 225 nm for sodium benzoate and 255 nm for potassium sorbate. The concentrations of preservatives in 24 analyzed samples were calculated by 4 point external standard method.

The levels of sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate were in the range of 9 to 161 mg/L and not detected to 219 mg/L, respectively. Only two samples contained a preservative level above the permitted according to the regulations of Serbia. In 11 samples, only sodium benzoate was used as preservative, while potassium sorbate was used as only preservative in 2 samples. Some of the analyzed samples contained carry-over additives.
Determination of preservatives in non-alcoholic beverages was a part of a wider project which aim was to assess the food safety issues of most frequently used food products on the market.

Keywords: sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, preservatives, non-alcoholic beverages