Research progress in detection methods of fluorescent whitening agents in food packaging

The illegal use of fluorescent whitening agents in food packaging is of growing scientific interest worldwide.Recent development of various methods for detection of fluorescent whitening agents, the advantages and limitations of the dominant methods including fluorescence spectrophotometry, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, high performance liquid chromatography, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry were reviewed in this paper.These problems existed in this research field and further developing trends were discussed.