vgnki develops procedure for determination of formaldehyde in food products and feed

The Russian State Centre for Animal Feed and Drug Standardization and Quality (VGNKI) develops procedure for measuring of formaldehyde content in food products, feed, feed raw material and feed additives.

Formaldehyde is a chemical compound that is naturally present in the environment and is a product of metabolism in living organisms. In order to increase the effectiveness of feed additives, it is used as a preservative. However, formaldehyde has a strong toxic effect and contributes to the excessive suppression of microbial activity in cattle. When feeding animals, improper dosage can lead to a decrease in the digestibility of fiber. Therefore, the need to control the use of this compound in feed and feed additives is obvious.

Formaldehyde is present in classifications of food additives, but it cannot be used in food products due to its high carcinogenicity and strong negative effects on a human body. Nevertheless, unscrupulous manufacturers are not always ready to give up on this preservative and use it when producing products, such as sausages, cheeses, smoked products, canned fish and meat.

There is also formaldehyde in the composition of smoke fume used for processing food products.

Sanitary rules and regulations, such as SanPiN 2.3.2.1293-03 and TR CU 029/2012, regulate the use of food additives and ensure quality control. The ban on the use of formaldehyde, as a food additive E240, in Russia underlines the need for such control.

Absence of accurate method of formaldehyde determination in food products and feed and the prevalence of formaldehyde in nature makes it difficult to detect it.

Currently there is no standardized procedures of formaldehyde determination of food products and feed, which complicates the control of its use. The development of a method for determining formaldehyde, based on the method of high-performance liquid chromatography, promises to be a solution to this problem, allowing to accurately measure its content and ensure control over product safety.