Development and Validation of a Microwave Digestion – FAAS Procedure for Cu, Mn and Zn Determination in Liver

In this paper the evaluation of the dry, wet and microwave digestion methods applied on certified bovine liver (CRM 12-02-01) has been performed. The microwave digestion method was selected and validated for the copper, manganese and zinc determination in liver samples by FAAS, because it is simple, rapid (digestion was done in 2.5 hours, with reduced chemical use) and reliable. Furthermore, microwave digestion method is characterized by a recovery between 98.13 and 99.09% and standard deviations between 0.22% and 4.13% for liver samples preparation and gave a precision close to 100%. The correlation coefficients, R2 of the linear regression equations exceeded 0.997 values, demonstrating a good linearity of the proposed method. The relative standard deviation for repeatability and reproducibility ranged from 0.80% to 1.96%. Liver trace elements analysis procedure using microwave digestion and FAAS determination, was applied for the Cu, Mn, and Zn determination in liver samples of recently weaned piglets. Linear correlation between the values determined by FAAS and those obtained by GF-AAS, both applied on the same samples proves the correctness of the proposed microwave digestion method used in the preparation of the piglet liver samples.