Short communicationSolid-liquid extraction as a clean sample preparation procedure for determination of Na and K in meat products

- Excessive concentrations of Na and K in meat products can cause health problems.
- Solid/liquid extraction in ultrapure water was proposed as sample preparation.
- The sample preparation contributed to the accuracy and precision of results.
- The procedure was compatible with two instrumental techniques, FAAS and FAES.
- The procedure showed simplicity, low cost and did not use of toxic reagents.

Solid-liquid extraction (SLE) is proposed as a clean sample preparation procedure for determination of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) in salami, sausage, ham and bologna. The sample preparation essentially consisted of extracting analytes from samples with ultrapure water and vortex agitation. The accuracy of the method was checked by means of addition and recovery tests; the recovery results for flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) and flame photometry (FP) varied from 91 to 108%, with relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 9%. No significant differences were observed (p = 0.05) between the results obtained by the proposed technique and a comparative method using digestion. In samples from different brands sold in Brazil the sodium and potassium concentration ranged from 7000 to 21,000 mg kg−1 and 2000 to 8000 mg kg−1, respectively. The proposed procedure provided similar results to the classical sample preparation methods, with the advantage of being simple, inexpensive and without the need for toxic reagents.