A Rapid and Simple Method For The Determination of Formaldehyde in Fishery Products
A Rapid and Simple Method For The Determination of Formaldehyde in Fishery Products
A Rapid and Simple Method For The Determination of Formaldehyde in Fishery Products
The content of free formaldehyde (FA) in minced fish musele was measured by the following procedure: A mix-
ture of minced fish musele and water was deproteinized by means of the Carrez reagent. The FA content of the
filtrate was determined reflectometrically using the Reflectoquant test strips and the RQflex. The results agreed
weIl with the colorimetrically (Nash test) measured FA content.
I ntroduction
Abstract:
The concentration of formaldehyde can be used as an Der· Gehalt an. ·freießlFormaldehyd (FA) in
indicator for the quality of frozen fishery products Fischerteugnissenwurde •. mitfolgender Methode
(Licciardello, et al. 1982). High amounts of FA result bestiIIllllt; Zerkleinertes Fischtleisch .wurde mit
in tough texture and low water binding capacity. Re- Wasser .homogenisiert . und mit. Carrez-Reagenz
cently the FA content of 271 fishery products from enteiweißt. Der Formaldehydgehaltdes Filtrates
retai! shops in Germany has been determined wurde reflektometrisch .unter .Verwendung· von
(Rehbein, et al. 1995). The mean values and ranges ReftectOquant..Teststät>chen> .llnd .•. des RQflex
ermittelt.Die>Ergebnissestimmtengutrnit kol-
(mg/kg wet weight) were 11.9 (0.2-60) for free (i.e.
orimetrisch. (Nash Test) gemessenen FA-
acid extractable) FA, and 47.4 (0-240) for the sum of Gehalten Überein.
free and bound (released by distillation of acidified
fish flesh) FA.
Chemical Analysis
A semiquantitative test for free FA and more sophisti-
Preparation of Extracts
cated methods for the determination of free and
bound FA in fishery products have been described Five grams of minced fish musele were homogenized
previously (Rehbein 1986). with 80 ml distilled water using the Krups 3 Mix 4000
equipped with the high speed cutting rod. After addi-
Here we present a method for the determination of
tion of 4 ml Carrez I (15 %, w/v, K4Fe(CN)6 x 3 HzO)
free formaldehyde, which is fast and easy to perform
and therefore useful for industrial quality control and 4 ml Carrez II (30 %, w/v, ZnS04 x 7 H20) the
laboratories and work on board of fishery research volume of the mixture was adjusted with distilled
vessels. water to 100 ml. Then the mixture was shaken
manually and precipitated material was removed by
filtration using a folded paper filter. The filtrate was
Materials and Methods stored at room temperature until being analysed for
FA on the same day.
Origin of Sampies
Fillets of hake (Merluccius merluccius), cod (Gadus Colorimetric Determination of Formaldehyde
morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) The Nash Test was used for colorimetric determina-
were taken from fish caught on cruises of the research tion of FA according to the procedure described pre-
vessel "Walther Herwig III". Onboard minced fillet viously (Rehbein 1986).
from cod and saithe (Pollachius virens), mixed with
blood or kidney of the respective species, were stored Reflectometric determination of Formaldehyde
in plastic bags for several days at 1 oe. Then the The method is based on the reaction of FA with 4-
minces were frozen and stored at about -25°C for 5 amino-3-hydrazino-5-mercapto-l,2,4-triazole to form
months to be analysed in the institute. a purple tetrazole derivative, the concentration of
which is measured by means of the RQflex (Merck,
Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was obtained
Darmstadt). The Reflectoquant Formaldehyde Test
from the local fish market.
Strip (Merck 16989) was used according to the in-
structions given by Merck:
38 Inf. Fisch wirtsch. 43 (1), 1996
Recently, a method for the determination of formal- suited as a preliminary test for identification of those
dehyde in shrimps has been published, which used fishery products, which contain unacceptable high
ZnS04 to extract FA from alcalised shrimp muscle amounts of formaldehyde.
(Yamagata and Low 1995). FA was measured col-
orimetrically by means of the same chemical reaction References
as occurring in the Reflectoquant test strrp. The re- Licciardello, J.1., Ravesi, E.M., Lundstrom, R.C., Wil-
sults obtainecl with that method, being more time helm, KA., Correia, F.F., Allsup, M.G.: Time-
consuming than the procedure described here, cor- temperature tolerance and physical-chemical quality
roborate that the underlying chemistry is suited for tests for frozen red hake. J. Food Qual. 5, 215-234,
FA determination in fishery products. Extraction of 1982.
FA by Carrez reagent has several advantages com- Rehbein, H., Eichenauer, D., Feser, P., Friedrich, R.,
pared to perchloric acid extraction: (i) Perchloric acid Glück, B., Harz, A., Waming, W., Werkmeister, K,
is a corrosive reagent, prohibiting application of Winkler, F.: Formaldehyd und Dimethylamin in
tiefgekühlten Fischerzeugnissen aus dem Handel - eine
household mixers for homogenization of fish sampIes. Bestandsaufnahme. Archiv LebensmiUelhyg. 46, 122-
(ii) Perchloric acid extracts have to be neutralized 124, 1995.
before being used to reflectometric FA measurement. Rehbein, H.: Formaldehyd in Fischprodukten: Nach-
(iii) Carrez reagent is cheaper and less hazardous than weis- und Bestimmungsmöglichkeiten. Inf. Fisch-
perchloric acid. wirtsch. 33(3), 134-141, 1986.
Yamagata, M. and Low, L.K: Rapid determination of
formaldehyde in banana shrimp, Penaeus merguiensis.
Conclusions J. Food Sci. 60, 718-720,1995.
From the results described above the conclusion is
justified that the reflectometric test system is weIl
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