Ring trial for the simultaneous analysis of sweeteners and preservatives in soft drinks

In the present study a ring trial on the simultaneous determination of three artificial sweeteners (acesulfame-K, aspartame and saccharin) and two preservatives (sorbic and benzoic acid) in a soft drink is presented. High performance liquid chromatography was used for the analysis, according to the EN 12856:1999 method. Eleven laboratories participated in the ring trial. The method proved to be efficient for the simultaneous determination of the selected sweeteners and preservatives in one run analysis. The repeatability relative standard deviation was 2.26% for aspartame, 5.05% for acesulfame-K, 2.38% for sodium saccharin, 3.72% for benzoic acid, 7.93% for sorbic acid and the reproducibility relative standard deviation of the target analytes was 7.5, 6.3, 4.5, 11.0 and 7.2% respectively. The precision data for the three sweeteners were comparable to the respective values reported by the EN 12856:1999 according to inter-laboratory tests in orange juice beverage, orange flavoured beverage and orange juice.