A survey of Benzoate and Sorbate Concentrations in Different Foods in the Eastern Azerbaijan

Benzoate and sorbate are used to prevent the growth of microorganisms and to increase the shelf life of the food in general. The purpose of this study was to detect benzoate and sorbate in some food products using Dispersive Liquid Liquid Microextraction and High Performance Liquid Chromatography as well as to determine the extent of accordance between sorbate and benzoate contents in different foodstuffs with the permitted standard level.
Eight types of food samples consisted of soft drinks (n 15), Ultra High Temperature (UHT) milk (n=15), ketchup sauce (n=15), yoghurt drink (n=15), fruit juice (n=15), tomato paste (n=15), cake (n=15) and bread (n=9) were analyzed based on Dispersive Liquid- Liquid Microextraction method. Optimum conditions were determined as follows: sample volume, 5ml; extraction solvent (chloroform) volume, 250μl; disperser solvent (acetone) volume, 1.2ml; NaCl amount, 0.75 g/5 ml at pH of 4.
Benzoic acid was detected in 107 (93.8%) of the samples ranged from less than 0.1 to 1520 μg/mL and sorbic acid in 60 (52.6%) of the samples ranged from 0.08 to 2305 μg/mL. Among all the food samples, soft drinks indicated the highest concentrations of benzoate (1520 μg/mL) and sorbate (2305 μg/mL). 74.1% and 24.9% of food samples examined contained upper level of benzoate and sorbate respectively than the permitted level of National standard. Among all the samples, soft drinks and yoghurt drink were found to have the highest concentrations in this respect.
In general, sorbate and benzoate contents of soft drink, yoghurt drink, fruit juice, UHT milk, tomato paste and ketchup sauce were exceeded the amounts defined by the national standard, while industrial breads and cake samples had lower concentrations of these preservatives.