Determination of monosodium glutamate used as food additives in various food stuffs

The demand for practical and easily consumable products is increasing day by day in all over the world and in our country. This leads the ready-to-eat food industry to use food additives and therefore flavor enhancers. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the most popular flavor enhancers and it is important to determine the amount of MSG present in the foods. In this study, it was aimed to develop a high performance liquid chromatography (YPSK) method to determine the amount of MSG commonly used as flavor enhancer in food stuffs such as chips, ready soup, meat bullion, chicken bullion, pizza sauce, condiment and raw meatballs. MSG determination was carried out through three different detectors including ultraviolet/photo diode array (UV/DAD), fluorescence (FLD) and evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). Columns with dimensions of C18 (150 mm, 4.6 mm, 2.7 μm) and C18 (150 mm, 4.6 mm, 3 μm) were used in the discrimination and orthophthaldialdehyde (OPA) and dansyl chloride (DNS-Cl) reagents were used for MSG determination in UV/DAD and FLD methods. The analysis was carried out for YPSK- ELSD without derivatization. The linearity, detection and determination limits, reproducibility, accuracy and stability of the method were examined. The amounts of MSG found in the examined greenhouses were evaluated in terms of compliance with legislation.