Czech J. Food Sci., 2025, 43(1):1-7 | DOI: 10.17221/113/2024-CJFS

Comparison of three different methods for the determination of sulphur dioxide in fruit and vegetable productsOriginal Paper

Novel Kishor Bhujel ORCID...¹, Eugene Okraku Asare ORCID...¹, Tereza Podskalská ORCID...¹, Kshitiz Pokhrel ORCID...², Filip Beňo ORCID...¹, Vojtěch Kružík ORCID...¹, Aleš Rajchl ORCID...¹, Helena Čížková ORCID...¹

¹ Department of Food Preservation, Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic

² Department of Microbiology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Sulphite is a food additive used worldwide. Globally, for concentrations above 10 mg·kg^–1, sulphite compounds must be labelled as sulphur dioxide (SO₂) on the packaging due to their potential health risks. This study compares spectrophotometric (S), titration (T) (modified optimised Monier-Williams, OMW), and reflectoquant (R) methods for measuring sulphur dioxide in twenty fruit and vegetable products. The samples comprise sulphited, unsulphited, and naturally sulphur-containing products (Allium genus such as garlic and onion). The article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the method used. Allium genus samples yielded false-positive results, especially in fresh garlic samples with average SO₂ concentrations of 46, 1 152, and 40 mg·kg^–1 obtained by titration, spectrophotometric, and reflectoquant methods, respectively, therefore, none of the methods is suitable for testing this type of vegetables or products containing a low proportion of them. For other types of samples, the methods showed acceptable working characteristics. Recovery tests showed 89.5, 82.0, and 75.2% recovery with 2.8, 3.9, and 13.2% repeatability and the limit of quantification of 1, 10, and 25 mg·kg^–1 in the spectrophotometric, titration, and reflectoquant methods. The result highlights the importance of method selection based on sample characteristics and regulatory compliance.

Keywords: sulphite; false positive; Allium genus samples; spectrophotometric method; titration method; reflectoquant method

Received: June 11, 2024; Revised: December 17, 2024; Accepted: January 13, 2025; Prepublished online: February 13, 2025; Published: February 28, 2025  Show citation