偏光光学系蛍光X線分析装置による食塩のキャラクタリゼーション

抄録

It has been recently reported that unscrupulous producers have been mislabeling geographic origins of their food products. The development of techniques to scientifically determine geographic origins of agricultural products has been requested so as to guarantee consumers' food safety. Dietary salts are mainly produced from sea water, rock salt, and agglomerate from salt lake; consequently, their prices can greatly vary depending on the production processes and the sources. Because the chemical composition of salts should be reflected by their sources and the making processes, we have tried to determine trace elements by using a highly sensitive XRF instrument, and demonstrate so as to identify the characteristics of dietary salts. By optimizing the XRF measurement conditions, the intensities of 15 elements (Na, Al, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Br, Rb, Sr, I) in dietary salts were rapidly and nondestructively obtained. Principal-component analyses using the normalized intensities of eight elements (K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Br, Rb, Sr, I) were performed to distinguish the characteristics of salt production and its source. We successfully demonstrated our ability to determine trace elements in dietary salts by XRF analysis with simple and quick sample preparation. It is beneficial to discriminate the characteristic of salts.