Report on the intercomparison run IAEA-153 trace elements in milk powder

The recognition of the important role that inorganic constituents play in human nutrition and health has generated interest in establishing their concentration in foodstuffs and especially in milk powder. For this reason and the fact that these results may be the basis upon which economic, environmental, medical, legal and/or human health related decisions are made, it is important to be able to determine the concentration of the inorganic components with good precision and accuracy. In support of the need for international standards on foodstuffs, the Analytical Quality Control Services of the International Atomic Energy Agency periodically organizes international comparisons for the determination of inorganic constituents in milk powder. The comparison reported here is one in these series. One goal of this intercomparison was to continue investigation for multielement analysis to provide the participating laboratories with the opportunity of checking their analytical performance while at the same time establishing the concentration of some elements for certification purposes. Refs and tabs