COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF ANALYTICAL TOOLS FOR FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY: FOCUS ON NAA AND ICP-OES

Elemental analysis plays a critical role in food quality control, safety assessment, and nutritional evaluation by quantifying trace elements essential for health or potentially toxic at elevated levels. Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) are two of the most popular analytical techniques because of their reliability and sensitivity. This study aims to compare NAA and ICP-OES in terms of analytical performance, sample preparation, detection limits, and practical applicability in food analysis. The findings indicate that NAA offers high accuracy and minimal sample preparation, particularly advantageous for multi-elemental analysis of solid samples without chemical digestion. However, it requires access to a nuclear reactor and has longer turnaround times. In contrast, ICP-OES is more accessible and faster, with high throughput and suitable for routine analysis of liquid samples, although it may require complex sample digestion and can suffer from spectral interferences. The complementary nature of both methods suggests their application depends on specific analytical requirements, such as the matrix type, element of interest, and available infrastructure.

Keywords: NAA, ICP-OES, food analysis, trace elements, spectroscopy.