Quantitative determination of selected elements in infant baby formulae and baby food cereals commercially available in Serbia using the ICP OES method.

The aim of this paper was the quantitative determination of some macro and trace elements, especially potentially toxic elements in the samples of infant baby formulae and baby food cereals commercially available in Serbia using the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) method. Among the macro elements, K is the most abundant in all infant formulae samples, followed by Ca, P, Na and Mg. On the other hand, the analysis of food cereals showed that P is presents in the highest contents, followed by K, Ca, Na, and Mg. Potentially toxic elements As, Pb, Hg, and Cd were not detected in any sample of infant formulae, while Cd was detected and quantified in cereal foods. Also, the calculated values of Estimated Tolerable Weekly Intake (ETWI) as well as the Estimated Tolerable Monthly Intake (ETMI) were lower than recommended values for a tolerable weekly intake (TWI) and provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI).

Trace element content in commercial complementary food formulated for infants and toddlers: Health risk assessment.

The study aimed to analyze trace elements content in baby purees and fruit juices and to evaluate the health risk of young children. The average daily dose, hazard quotient, hazard index and total diet hazard quotient were calculated to assess the potential health risk on per capita and consumers only groups of infants and toddlers. There was no significant health risk for studied groups regarding the intake of trace elements via purees and juices consumption. Health risk for lead was not estimated since the oral reference dose for this metal was not yet established and PTWI value was withdrawn. The average daily dose of lead for infants (0.32 - 0.46 µg/kg bw/day) and toddlers (2.01 - 2.29 µg/kg bw/day) were in accordance with the daily lead exposure intervals estimated by EFSA. Applying statistical analysis, the products were classified into three groups according to the content of trace elements.

A simple method for the ampicillin determination in pharmaceuticals and human urine.

The new kinetically-based spectrophotometric method for the determination of microquantities of ampicillin is proposed in the present paper. Ampicillin degradation in strong alkaline medium was applied for the method development. The reaction rate was monitored at 265 nm. A differential variation of the tangent method was used to process the kinetic data. The method is valid over the 3.49-55.84 µg/mL ampicillin concentration interval with relative standard deviation (RSD) range 7.79-3.20%. The calculated detection limit was determined at 2.58 µg/mL based on the 3.3S0 criterion. The interference effects of some metal ions, anions, amino acids and other molecules were investigated in order to assess the method selectivity. The method was successfully applied to determining the content of ampicillin in commercial pharmaceutical preparations and human urine. The obtained results were in good correlation with the HPLC method results. The newly developed method is simple, inexpensive and efficient for the analysis of a large number of samples at room temperature in a short time.