A worldwide laboratory intercomparison was organized by the Internatio
nal Atomic Energy Agency's Analytical Quality Control Services (AQCS)
involving the determination of elements in plant materials used for hu
man consumption. The main purpose of this work was to evaluate the per
formance of our analytical methods including sample preparation and to
obtain new reference materials that can be used in our further work.
Both materials (spinach and cabbage) were analyzed by inductively coup
led plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and instrumental neu
tron activation analysis (INAA). Six subsamples of each material were
subjected to our digestion procedure and the solutions were measured b
y ICP-AES. The dried samples were analyzed using INAA. Up to 26 elemen
ts were determined in plant materials. For easy review of our data a s
core has been calculated based on the reference value for each measure
d element. According to our results the ICP-AES technique was useful f
or determination of the following elements: Ba, Ca, Cr, Fe, K, Mn. Mo,
P, S, Sr, Ti. The INAA method was reliable for measurement of Ce, Co,
Mn, Na, Rb, Th, and V. (C) 1998 Academic Press.