Valente, A.Sanches-Silva, A.Albuquerque, T.G.Costa, H.S.2015-01-302015-01-302014-07-01Food Chem. 2014 Jul 1;154:71-7. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.12.0530308-8146http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/2728Reference materials are useful for the quality control of analytical procedures and to evaluate the performance of laboratories. There are few and expensive certified reference materials commercially available for vitamin C or ascorbic acid analysis in food matrices. In this study, the preparation and the suitability assessment of an orange juice in-house reference material (RM) for vitamin C analysis in fruits, juices and in fruit pulps is described. This RM was used for the development and full validation of an HPLC method. The results showed excellent linearity (r2 = 0.9995), good accuracy (96.6–97.3%) and precision, as relative standard deviation, ranged from 0.70% to 3.67%. The in-house RM was homogenous and stable at storage conditions (−80 °C) during 12 months. According to our results, this in-house RM is an excellent tool to use in quality control and method verification purposes for vitamin C analysis of fruits, juices and fruit pulps matrices. Furthermore, a stabilization solution with perchloric and metaphosphoric acids was developed which prevents degradation of ascorbic acid for a period of 12 months at −80 °C.engComposição dos AlimentosNutrição AplicadaAscorbic AcidVitamin CReference MaterialQuality ControlValidationjournal article10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.12.053