Mettler Toledo present webinar on technique for ion determination in food

Learn more about the multiple standard addition for ion determination in food  - sodium, nitrate, magnesium, etc. – in a new webinar from METTLER TOLEDO.

Sodium determination is consistently becoming more important for the food industry. Conventional sodium testing methods are complicated and require expert user knowledge. In a live webinar on April 11^th and October 3^rd, METTLER TOLEDO presents a new analytical method dedicated to the simplified, yet highly accurate, determination of sodium.

It has long been known that too much sodium in the diet can be harmful to a person’s health. It is linked to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. The pressure continues for food manufacturers to accurately determine, and subsequently reduce, the sodium content in their food products and to provide correct labeling. Accurate and efficient sodium determination is therefore of high importance to food producers.

Conventional techniques for direct sodium determination, like Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy (ICP), and Ion Chromatography (IC), require external calibration and elaborate sample preparation. Investment in mostly large devices is relatively high in comparison to other analytical equipment, and in-depth knowledge of operation is essential. Food companies often have to rely on external research labs, prolonging and complicating the entire quality control process.

Sodium determination using the multiple standard addition technique is performed by ion-selective sensors. As the membrane potential cannot be observed directly, the potential of the ion-selective electrode (ISE) half-cell is measured against a reference sensor.

Multiple standard addition is a powerful analytical technique with many advantages, including:

• The ion-selective electrode does not need to be calibrated, as the slope of the measurements can be evaluated during the multiple standard addition measurement itself.
• There is a low risk of other components in the sample solution distorting the analyte's signal.
• Sample preparation for the method is straightforward and rapid without long-lasting procedures.
• The analysis can be performed even by low-skilled operators.
• The multiple standard addition generates very accurate and repeatable results, comparable to the conventional analytical techniques.

Furthermore, sample preparation and sodium content measurement can be fully automated using METTLER TOLEDO's new Excellence titrators together with the InMotion™ autosampler.

Find out more about our titration solutions, register to watch the Live Webinar, or contact a local sales representative for more information.

Source: METTLER TOLEDO