Simultaneous analysis of some additives used to modify the flavour of processed foods

Depending on the changes in living conditions and developments in technology, various additives are used in food and pharmaceutical products. Determination of food constituents has become a current topic especially as a result of the increase of importance on food security and legal limitations on the use of additives. One of the main purposes of using additives is to modify the flavour of foods and pharmaceuticals, and an important group of flavour modifiers is the sweeteners. The consumption of sweeteners is increasing due to several health problems and esthetic worries, and in consequence, to estimate their daily total intake, it is required to determine the amount of them in foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals. The aim of this study was development of a cheap, simple, rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous analysis of some commonly used sweeteners and its application on various foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals consumed in Turkey. The proposed method was applied using a core-shell particle column (Ascentis® Express C18 (2.7µm, 100×4.6 mm)) and a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: water: phosphate buffer (0.025 M pH 3.0). Mobile phase was pumped at 1 mL min-1 flow rate and analytes were detected at 210 nm wavelength by a photo diode array detector after a gradient run within average time of 15 min. Linearity, limits of detection and quantitation, repeatability, trueness and ruggedness of the method were evaluated. The developed method was successfully applied for determination of seven intense sweeteners, namely acesulfame potassium, saccharine, aspartame, alitame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, rebaudioside A and neotame. The results were examined statistically and sweeteners' levels in foods were evaluated in term of suitability to legislation.