Trace Element Speciation in Food

BERTON, PAULA; MARTINIS, ESTEFANIA M.; WUILLOUD, RODOLFO G.

Advances in Food Sciences and Nutrition

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Año: 2012;

Food is usually one of the main sources of exposure to toxic and essential metal compounds. However, nutritional and toxicological properties of a chemical element critically depend on the form in which it occurs in food. As a consequence, trace element speciation, particularly for toxic trace elements, is nowadays considered to be the main interest to ensure food safety and it is becoming worldwide an important need for industrial quality control and regulatory implementation. Furthermore, since trace element bioavailability is highly variable among chemical forms, speciation analysis is essential to estimate nutritional quality. In order to achieve these toxicological and nutritional analysis in foods, robust analytical methods with well-established procedures for food sampling and sample treatment, are required to assure the identity of the different chemical species. In this chapter, an introductory discussion to the issue of trace elemental speciation in food is given. General aspects demonstrating the great relevance that elemental speciation is having in different fields, such as toxicology and nutrition, are critically commented and discussed. Special emphasis was placed on the species of toxic heavy metals and metalloids (such as arsenic, mercury, tin, chromium, and cadmium) and on the species of essential elements (such as iron, selenium, cobalt, and zinc) occurring in food. Additionally, the impact of industrial food processing and domestic preparation on element speciation and bioavailability in foodstuff is briefly commented. Lastly, a summary of mostly relevant and applied analytical methods and techniques to develop speciation studies in different foods is exposed.