Metrohm UK offers various techniques for the chemical analysis of fruits and vegetables, including ion chromatography, titration and voltammetry/polarography.
In nutrition, synergetic effects play an important role.
A minimal amount of 400g of fruits and vegetables per day (starch containing tubes excluded) is a natural source of valuable fibres, vegetable proteins and protective micronutrients.
Therefore, the consumption of fruits and vegetables can help to prevent major diseases (cardiovascular diseases) and certain cancers.
The kind of minerals and ions present in a fruit or vegetable also depend on the soil that the plant is growing on.
Besides the natural minerals, fruits and vegetables can also contain highly toxic heavy metals such as lead or mercury.
It is a matter of concentration, whether a metal is toxic or not, according to the company.
On one hand, bodies need zinc as an essential trace element.
On the other hand, zinc being present in high levels will interfere with the metabolism of other minerals in the body (iron and copper) and is toxic.
The storage and conservation of fruits and vegetables also play an important role.
These are possible sources for contamination, as in the case of using tin plating for cans.
The vitamin C concentration in fruit as well as a large number of anions and cations present in fruit can be determined by ion chromatography, titration or voltammetry/polarography.
As a result of its high sensitivity, voltammetry and polarography are the first choice in trace metal analysis.
Titration, on the other hand, provides an easy and cheap way to analyse major minerals in fruits and vegetables.
When it comes to nitrate analysis or the analysis of different ions concomitantly, then ion chromatography is suitable.
