VISIBLE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHOD DEVELOPMENT FOR DETERMINATION OF FORMALDEHYDE IN SEA-WATER FISH APPLYING SCHRYVER REAGENT

• Main Author: Abdulbasith, Afif
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/45720
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

According to Ministry of Health Ordinance of Republic of Indonesia number 033/MenKes/Per/2012, formaldehyde belongs to substances forbidden to be applied as food additive. However, misuses of formaldehyde as preservative were still reported especially that of easily putrefying foods such as fish, tofu and wet noodle. From food safety view, the presence of formaldehyde in food is a hazard source and hence an analytical method is necessary for its confirmation and quantification. The aim of this research was to obtain an analytical method for determination of formaldehyde in fresh see-water fish by means of visible spectrophotometric method applying schryver reagent. Due to the presence of formaldehyde in fish flesh chemically bound to protein and to minimize matrices interferences, acidic sample hydrolysis subsequently followed by distillation was performed to separate formaldehyde from its matrices. To obtain optimum combination of schryver reagent, the composition was varied, i.e. phenylhydrazine and potassium ferric cyanide, both at the concentration level of 1, 3 and 5%, while that of HCl was kept constant at 4.5 N. Schryver reagent consist of 4 part volume of 3% phenylhydrazine and 4.5 N HCl (3:5) mixture and 1 part volume of 3% potassium ferric cyanide gave optimum measurement result. Applying this method, calibration curve of formaldehyde had a regression equation of y = 0.07437x + 0.06027 and r 2 = 0.9985 with limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOD) of 0.21 dan 0.75 mg/L, respectively. Within- and inter-day relative standard deviation (RSD) of formaldehyde determination were 0,52 and 1.65%, while its recoveries were in the range of 104.37 to 111.79%. Formaldehyde levels in freshly prepared fish flesh and stored in freezer at 1 st , 3 rd , 5 th and 7 th storage days were 0.27, 0.09, 0.13 and 0.17 mg/kg. Determination of formaldehyde in each 5 fish samples from traditional market and modern retails in Bandung, showed that the formaldehyde levels were in the range of 0.4802 to 1.8875 mg/kg. Based on overall results it was concluded that a visible spectrophotometric method for determination of formaldehyde in fresh fish was successfully obtained and applicable for routine determination of formaldehyde in fresh fish.