SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF ASCORBIC, DEHYDROASCORBIC, ISOASCORBIC,AND DEHYDROISOASCORBIC ACIDS IN MEAT-BASED FOOD-PRODUCTS BY LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH POSTCOLUMN FLUORESCENCE DETECTION - A METHOD EXTENSION

A simple and rapid liquid chromatographic (LC) method for determining ascorbic, dehydroascorbic, isoascorbic, and dehydroisoascorbic acids i n mostly single-component food products was evaluated for use in analy sis of multicomponent meat-based food products such as TV dinners, Gro und-beef samples were used as blanks for repeatability studies, Sample s were fortified with 5, 10, 20, and 40 ppm of mixed standards of asco rbic acid and isoascorbic acid, Means of 12 recoveries at 4 levels of fortification were 102.5 and 83.5%, respectively, for ascorbic acid an d isoascorbic acid, with coefficients of variation of 6.7 and 15.2%, r espectively, TV dinner products (21 samples) from a local grocery stor e were analyzed for vitamin C content, Samples prepared with a commerc ial food processor and a food grinder were compared, The commercial fo od processor was more capable than the food grinder in producing a hom ogeneous sample, which is critical to the method.