Determination of Formaldehyde Content by High Performance Liquid Chromatography in Some Fruits of Local Market in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine the formaldehyde content in three mostly consumed fruits (mango, apple and grape) in Bangladesh. A total of 81 samples were collected from three different local markets of Dhaka city (Mohammadpur Bazaar, Mohakhali Bazaar and Gulistan Bazaar). High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with c-18 column and UV detector at 355 nm were used to determine the formaldehyde content. The mobile phase was 50% acetonitrile with a flow rate 1ml/min. The concentration of formaldehyde in mango was from 1.86mg/100g to 11.65mg/100g in Mohammadpur Bazaar, 1.45mg/100g to 10.69mg/100g in Mohakhali Bazaar and 1.69mg/100g to 4.41mg/100g in Gulistan Bazaar. It was found that 2.28mg/100g to 7.30mg/100g, 2.33mg/100g to 11.77mg/100g & 1.42mg/100g to 5.39mg/100g formaldehyde contained in apple for Mohammadpur, Mohakhali, Gulistan Bazaar respectively. Among the selected sample, the content of formaldehyde in grape was lower than mango and apple. The amount of formaldehyde in grape was 0.93mg/100g to 4.63mg/100g, 1.92mg/100g to 3.84mg/100g & 1.42mg/100g to 4.92mg/100g for Mohammadpur, Mohakhali, Gulisthan market. The highest formaldehyde concentrations (11.77mg/100g) were detected in apple fruit, exceeding the naturally found permissible limit of 0.63 to 2.23 mg/100gm; the second highest formaldehyde concentration (11.65mg/100g) were found in mango, exceeding the permissible limit of 0.1 to 6 mg/100gm; while the grape also contains high level of formaldehyde concentration (4.92mg/100g) exceeding the permissible limits 2.24mg/100gm. It was surprisingly found that the 22.22% of mango, 85.19% of apple and 66.67% of grape contained formalin above the permissible limit.

Keywords: Fruits, Formaldehyde, HPLC, Food Safety

DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/96-06

Publication date: April 30^th 2020