Determination of Functional Component in Agricultural Product: Lutein in Fresh Spinach by HPLC Method

User Benefits

- Full procedure from sample collection, transportation, pretreatment to quantitative analysis of lutein in spinach by HPLC method following the JAS 0008 method - Method evaluation of quantitation, identification and precision by interlaboratory tests

Introduction

In 1990s, functional foods labelled as “Food for Specified Health Uses” or FOSHU products was introduced in Japan domestic market. Functional foods contain ingredients that offer specific health benefits. For example, lutein (C₄₀H₅₆O₂), a carotenoid compound found in spinach and other green leaf vegetables, has several beneficial effects on eye health. Hence, Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is listed as the Food with Functional Claims (FFC), a new regulatory system of health claim introduced in Japan in 2015. The Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) are established to support the FFC new functional food system. In this application news, a HPLC method associated with the JAS 0008 (2019) monograph is described and applied for the quantitation of lutein in fresh spinach. The analysis results of the testing samples are compared with that obtained from an accredited laboratory (data not shown) to confirm the precision.

March 10, 2022 GMT