Development and analytical evaluation of a spectrophotometric procedure for the quantification of different types of phosphorus in meat products.

Phosphorus is an important natural nutrient, but high dietary phosphorus intake, including that sourced from added preservatives, is of great concern in renal patients. In this context a reliable analytical method able to quantify differential phosphorous in food could be a valuable tool for the monitoring of the diet composition We present here a novel analytical procedure to quantify the following kinds of phosphorous in cooked ham: total (TP), inorganic (IP), from phospholipids (PL) and from phosphoproteins (PP). This technique is based on a suitable sample preparation followed by spectrophotometric analyses. Analytical performances of each method were evaluated, taking advantage also of food industry certified material and in-house reference samples. Limit of detection and limit of quantification values for TP, IP, PP-derived and PL-derived phosphorus were 13 and 37, 11 and 33, 2 and 20, 6 and 16 mg P / 100 g fresh mass, respectively. Similar results were obtained when this procedure was used to quantify different types of phosphorus present in cooked ham samples. In conclusion, this procedure is effective for quantifying the content of different types of phosphorus present in cooked ham, which can be contributed by different phosphorus-containing ingredients and additives. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that simultaneous determination of TP, IP, PL and PP in cooked ham has been reported.