Simultaneous determination of ascorbic, dehydroascorbic, isoascorbic, and dehydroisoascorbic acids in meat-based food products by liquid chromatography with postcolumn fluorescence detection: a method extension.

A simple and rapid liquid chromatographic (LC) method for determining ascorbic, dehydroascorbic, isoascorbic, and dehydroisoascorbic acids in mostly single-component food products was evaluated for use in analysis of multicomponent meat-based food products such as TV dinners. Ground-beef samples were used as blanks for repeatability studies. Samples were fortified with 5, 10, 20, and 40 ppm of mixed standards of ascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid. Means of 12 recoveries at 4 levels of fortification were 102.5 and 83.5%, respectively, for ascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid, with coefficients of variation of 6.7 and 15.2%, respectively. TV dinner products (21 samples) from a local grocery store were analyzed for vitamin C content. Samples prepared with a commercial food processor and a food grinder were compared. The commercial food processor was more capable than the food grinder in producing a homogeneous sample, which is critical to the method.