Analysis of Food and Agricultural Samples Using PlasmaQuant MS Application Note · PlasmaQuant MS

Introduction

Agricultural products play a significant role in the daily uptake of nutrients and fibers to maintain good health. The agricultural products and resulting foods contain nutritional elements in various concentrations but also elements deemed to be toxic to humans and/or animals.

Besides the organically bound elements: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, there are more than 30 dietary elements necessary for the correct functioning of living organisms. According to their concentration, these elements are classified into macroelements (Ca, Mg, Na, K, P, S, Fe, Cu, Zn) with concentration levels above 0.01% and microelements (Ge, B, Cr, Sn, Zn, F, I, Co, Si, Li, Mn, Cu, Mo, Ni, Se, V, Fe) with less than 0.001% in bodily fluids and tissues. The importance of dietary elements is difficult to overestimate. The elements play a significant role in the constitution of bodies and in metabolic and other processes. For example, calcium is the main component of human bones and teeth. It also helps in clotting blood and is necessary for sending and receiving of nerve signals. Calcium deficiency can cause osteoporosis, metabolic disorder and other problems in human and animal body. Magnesium is important for ruminants to prevent grass tetany, selenium is known to be a major factor in the fertility of cows, and deficiency of manganese causes skeletal deformation in animals and inhibits the production of collagen in wound healing.

However, there are not only nutritional elements necessary for life, but also toxic elements with adverse effects on organisms. Examples of such harmful elements include Be, Sb, Bi, Ba, U, Al, Tl, Hg, Cd and Pb. Toxic elements tend to accumulate in the liver, kidneys and pancreas. For instance, cadmium causes kidney damage and cardiovascular disease.

Lead, as a highly poisonous metal, affects almost every organ and system in the body, can even cause damage to the brain and nervous system in children. Mercury is considered by World Health Organization (WHO) to be one of the top ten toxic chemicals. Mercury has toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems as well as on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes. Exposure mainly occurs through consumption of fish and shellfish contaminated with methylmercury. Looking upstream in our food supply chains and in particular to the agricultural industry, it is becoming increasingly clear that providing the correct balance of macrominerals and trace metals in their feed helps livestock to thrive and remain disease free.

Accurate measurement of elemental composition in food and agricultural products is essential to ensure in ensuring product safety and to maintaining adequate levels of nutritional content. With concentrations typically ranging from sub partsper-billion to high parts-per-million in solution, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a vital tool for, providing fast, reliable, and routine analysis of samples over a large concentration range. As such, this application note investigates the measurement of key elements in food and agricultural reference materials by ICP-MS, from trace to major levels within a single analysis.