Silicon dioxide: analytical evaluation and applications in food industry

Silicon dioxide (SiO2), a natural compound, can be found in various foods and beverages, including eggs, fish, bananas, grains, leafy greens, milk, and water. In literature, silicon dioxide is studied in specific forms, including amorphous silicon dioxide and colloidal silicon dioxide, which are used as food additives or pharmaceutical excipients. Characterization and evaluation of the silicon dioxide content from various foods and pharmaceutical products were performed using different analytical methods including UV-Vis spectrophotometry, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), ion chromatography (IC) or capillary electrophoresis (CE). Colloidal silicon dioxide is a polymeric form of silicon with various industrial applications, such as: coating agent for food supplements or pharmaceutical products and a freely flowing agent or anticaking ingredient in food products. In this paper, the analytical control of some food supplements based on silicon dioxide is shown. Firstly, FTIR analysis was performed to characterize the food supplements. The main goal of this study was to determine the total silicon content in terms of silicon dioxide of these food supplements using specific UV-Vis spectrophotometric methods reported in literature. In conclusion, following this analytical control all food supplements with silicon dioxide are in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions