Advanced method for the photometric determination of starch in sausage products

Abstract

The article highlights the main functional and technological properties of starch and their use in the production of meat products to improve organoleptic characteristics, as well as for falsification. The main requirements of the state standards of Ukraine regarding the quality and content of starch in sausages are described. An improved method of photometric determination of starch by light absorption of a colored compound with iodine is presented, which uses measuring vessels with greater accuracy (volumetric flasks instead of test tubes), as well as increased thickness of light-absorbing layer. The method has good analytical parameters: the detection limit (LOD) is 1.6 μg/ml, and the detection limit (LOQ) is 5.0 μg/ml. Using advanced photometric techniques, the mass percentage of starch in five samples of home-made sausages (Sr = from 1.0 to 2.4 %) was determined. It was found that in the three samples the starch content does not exceed the maximum permissible values specified in the state standards of Ukraine. No starch was found in one sample, which also meets the requirements for premium sausages. Slightly inflated content of starch content was determined only in the sausage “Juicy”, for which the corresponding figure is 22.3 % higher than the value declared in the state standards of Ukraine. An improved method of photometric determination of starch in sausages is simple, fast; does not require complex sample preparation, use of expensive and specific devices and reagents. This technique can be recommended for routine analysis of control of starch content in meat products. An additional advantage of the improved method is the high specificity of the interaction of iodine with starch, which leads to high selectivity of starch determination. In addition, the method used is direct, the analytical signal is a direct reaction of the component to be determined and not another compound whose concentration is directly proportional to the concentration of starch. Keywords: starch, photometry, sausages, iodine, falsification.