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Determination of boric acid in foods: Comparative study of three methods
Author(s) -
SitiMizura S,
Tee E S,
Ooi H E
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740550211
Subject(s) - boric acid , repeatability , curcumin , chemistry , chromatography , mannitol , biochemistry , organic chemistry
Three methods for the determination of boric acid in foods were studied in detail, namely the titrimetric method using mannitol, and two colorimetric procedures using carminic acid or curcumin. Agar‐agar strips, pickled mango, noodles and prawns were analysed and the repeatability, sensitivity and recovery of the methods compared. The titrimetric and curcumin methods gave mean values for boric acid which were significantly ( P < 0·05) higher than those of the carminic acid method. Results with the titrimetric method did not differ from those with the curcumin method; the latter method gave good recoveries (∼ 100%) for all four foods at all levels of addition. Analyses carried out on NBS Standard Material showed that the curcumin method gave the most accurate results. This method was also found to show the least internal variation both in terms of mean boric acid content and recovery. Furthermore, the method possessed practical advantages over the other two techniques. Based on the results obtained from the comparative studies, the curcumin method was found to be the most reliable and hence would be the method of choice for boric acid determination in foods.