Abstract
Background:
Public health specialists continue to be concerned about the use of chemical preservatives in foodstuffs, particularly because of their bioaccumulative properties.

Aim:
This study aimed to detect benzoic acid residues in frozen poultry products in Iraq using high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector.

Methods:
Twenty specimens were collected and analyzed, including to 10 local and 10 imported poultry products. Chromatographic separation was performed on a C18 column (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) using a mobile phase consisting of 30% acetonitrile in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and detection at 235 nm. The benzoic acid standard solution (1000 ppm mL⁻¹; CAS 65-85-0) gave a clear and sharp peak at 1.80 min, with an intensity of about 950-1000 mAU. Calibration curves were constructed considering external calibration from 0.5 to 100-ppm mL-1 with R² .0.998 which obeyed outstanding linearity. The identification of benzoic acid in the test samples was confirmed as follows: the retention time of 1.79–1.82 min; spectral purity by Diode array detector (200-400 nm); peak ratio with criterion 5/20(25%).

Results:
Among the analyzed samples, imported brands showed positive results in 4 out of 10 samples (40%), with concentrations ranging from 434 to 726 ppm mL⁻¹ (mean 595 ± 122 ppm mL⁻¹), whereas only 1 out of 10 locally produced brands (10%) tested positive at a concentration of 449 ppm mL⁻¹. No detectable peaks exceeding the detection limits were observed in the remaining samples within the 1.5–2.2-min retention time window.

Conclusion:
The validated HPLC-DAD technique was found to be reliable and precise for the analysis of the preservative residue like benzoic acid, and can be considered an efficient technique for the control of food safety and protection of human health in Iraq.

Key words: Public health; Poultry products; HPLC-DAD.