COMPARISON OF THE OFFICIAL EC METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF TOTAL VOLATILE BASES IN FISH WITH ROUTINE METHODS

The EC reference method for the determination of total volatile bases (TVB) in fish, involving preliminary deproteinisation with perchloric acid, was compared with two routine methods i. e. direct distillation of fish after addition of magnesium oxide and use of trichloracetic ac id instead of perchloric acid. Furthermore, two types of distillation units were used i. e. a compact still consisting of a round-bottom fla sk (steam generator) with inserted reaction vessel (Antona still) and a semi-automatic Kjeldahl distilling unit (Tecator T 1002). There was an excellent correlation both between the three methods studied and di stillation apparatus used, showing that the routine methods can be use d instead of the official reference method. The direct distillation me thod which necessitates less analytical steps is recommended as a quic k routine method.