12.03.2013

Perchlorate in fruit and vegetables – testing done at ifp

There have been various reports on the discovery of perchlorate in a variety of fruit and vegetables (source: BMU - German Federal Ministry for the Environment).

Perchlorates  (ClO4-) are inorganic salts. It is not known yet how they get into the food. Possible sources currently discussed include solutions containing perchlorate as contaminants (e.g. certain fertilizers). Perchlorate may, however, also form as a result of using substances that contain chlorine, e.g. for disinfection or in herbicides (source: BLL – German Federation for Food Law and Food Science).

ifp Institut für Produktqualität has established perchlorate analytics and tests fruit and vegetables for trace levels after extraction with LC-MS/MS.