Abstract:For practicing the concept of “greening” in the food inspection, a microwave-assisted digestion method using diluted nitric acid - hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry was established to determine total mercury content in vegetables. The effects of nitric acid concentration, digesting temperature, acid-driving and other conditions on the determination were investigated by taking Spinach powder as standard reference material. And then, this method was evaluated and applied to determine vegetables sold in Jiujiang. Results indicated that the optimal digestion solution consist of 5 mL of 20% nitric acid and 1.0 mL of hydrogen peroxide, and a maximum microwave digestion temperature of 160 ℃, a carrier current of 5% HNO3, a negative high voltage of 280 V, and a KBH4 concentration of 0.5% were selected. The limit of detection was 0.00011 mg/kg, the linear range of mercury was good at 0~2.0 μg/L, the correlation coefficient (R2) was 0.9997, the recovery ranged from 96.0% to 106.0%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was from 2.5% to 5.5%. The method is easy, can reduce the amount of nitric acid used in the pre-treatment steps significantly, free of acid driving, repeatable, and suitable for popularization and application.