ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Determination of Tin in Canned Foods
by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass
Spectrometry
Ion Trandafir1, Violeta Nour2, Mira Elena Ionica2
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1Faculty of Chemistry, University of Craiova, 107 Calea Bucuresti Street, Craiova, Dolj, Romania
2Faculty of Horticulture, University of Craiova, 13 A. I. Cuza Street, Craiova, Dolj, Romania
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(3):749-754
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Most foods contain very low concentrations of tin, usually below 10 mg/kg, although canned foods may
contain higher concentrations as a result of the slow dissolution of the tin coating used on the inside of some
food cans to protect the steel body of the can from corrosion. An inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry
(ICP-MS) method following microwave digestion was developed and evaluated to determine levels of
dissolved tin in canned foods. Accuracy of the method was tested by analyzing analytical standards containing
tin at 2 levels (0.5 and 5 ppm). Amounts of tin found for the 0.5 and 5 ppm standards were 0.505 and 5.12
ppm, while repeatability relative standard deviations (RSD) were 2.42 and 1.87%, respectively. Recoveries of
tin from spiked products with two levels of tin ranged from 91.3 to 105.2%. The detection limit for tin standard
solution was about 0.01 ppb. The developed method was used to determine levels of tin in several kinds
of canned foods from the present market. Samples of canned pineapple, mandarins, fruit cocktail, carrots,
mushrooms, peas, beans, corn, peeled tomatoes, and tuna were evaluated. The relationships between tin concentrations
and time periods after opening were studied.