Dry ashing, hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometric determination of arsenic and selenium in foods.

A dry ashing, flameless atomic absorption spectrometric method was evaluated to determine arsenic and selenium in foods. Samples were dry-ashed with Mg(NO3)2-MgO and dissolved in HCl. Selenate was reduced to selenite by boiling in 4N HCl. Selenate was reduced to selenite by boiling in 4N HCl, and arsenate to arsenite by treatment with KI. Hydrides of arsenic and selenium were generated by the addition of NaBH4 and were swept by nitrogen and hydrogen into a thermally heated silicate tube furnace. The detection limit was about 5 ppb for each element based on a 10 g sample. Analytical results obtained for several samples of NBS reference materials agreed with the certified values. The procedure was evaluated by another laboratory and results were satisfactory.