Overview
Alvarez and Mohammed developed a methanol-water extraction with selective-reduction hydride generation AAS to separate extractable As(III) and As(V) from non-extractable (mainly organic) arsenic in poultry. They applied it to ten retail breast and thigh samples from five brands. Total arsenic ranged from about 16 µg/kg to more than 1800 µg/kg, with the highest values in one brand.
Key numbers
- Highest brand: chicken thigh total arsenic 1848 ± 11.7 µg/kg, with extractable As(III) 399 ± 7.01 and As(V) 283 ± 5.27 µg/kg; breast 1686 ± 10.7 µg/kg (Table 6, p. 13).
- Lowest: chicken breast fillets total arsenic 15.7 ± 0.790 µg/kg, As(III) below LOQ (Table 6).
- Turkey breast: total arsenic 20.5 ± 0.750 µg/kg, As(III) and As(V) below LOQ (Table 6).
Methods (brief)
Soxhlet extraction with 30:70 methanol-water for 6 h at 78 °C, selective reduction HG-AAS for As(III) and As(V), and nitric acid digestion of the residue and of whole samples for non-extractable and total arsenic. DORM-5 recoveries were 98.9% for total and 93.8% for inorganic arsenic; spike recoveries were 93 to 105%.
Evidence Fitness
A methods paper with only ten single-product results and no sample counts or dates, so it is not a survey. Two different LOD/LOQ sets are printed for total arsenic (0.261/0.870 mg/kg in Tables 2 and 4, 2.47/8.23 µg/kg in Tables 6 and 7), and some As(V) values are printed below their stated LOQ. As(III) plus As(V) is called ‘extractable arsenic’ and may not equal all inorganic arsenic. Brand names in the tables are not used.