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Determination of Major Cations in Milk by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry

Milk and Food Research, U. S. Public Health Service, Cincinnati, Ohio

ABSTRACT

Milk samples analyzed for major cations by atomic absorption spectrophotometry showed standard deviations for various elements, as follows: calcium, 0.019 g/liter, or 1.6%; magnesium, 0.002 g/liter, or 1.6%; potassium 0.029 g/liter, or 1.9%; and sodium, 0.010 g/liter, or 2.4%. Recoveries of added calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium in milk were quantitative, and reproducibility of analytical results was satisfactory. Comparison of results obtained with this method and those obtained by flame photometry, direct titration of milk with EDTA, and oxalatepermanganate titration indicated that calcium was significantly higher at = 0.05. Anaysis of data by separation means, however, revealed that the calcium content in whole milk did not vary significantly between methods, whereas for skimmilk, two of the four samples showed higher results with atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Measured values were within the required accuracy. Determination of magnesium by this method was particularly satisfactory, and results were more reliable than those obtained by direct titration of milk; results for potassium and sodium were comparable to those obtained by flame photometry.