Determination of the Total Content of Arsenic, Antimony, Selenium and Mercury in Chinese Herbal Food by Chemical Vapor Generation-Four-Channel Non-dispersive Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry.

ABSTRACT

Food security is related to safe and nutritious food which meets people's dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. A simple and feasible method was proposed for the simultaneous analysis of trace arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), selenium (Se) and mercury (Hg) in Chinese herbal food by chemical vapor generation coupled non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CVG-NDAFS) in this paper. The operating parameters, such as observation height, carrier and shield gas flow rate, were optimized. The detection limits were obtained under optimal conditions, which were 0.051, 0.034, 0.050 and 0.0058 ng mL-1, respectively for As, Sb, Se and Hg. The relative standard deviations were 0.42%, 0.74%, 0.97% and 1.0% (n = 7), respectively (10 ng mL-1of As, Sb, Se and 1 ng ml-1of Hg). The proposed method is verified to simultaneously determine As, Sb, Se and Hg for Chinese herbal food.