In the beverage industry, monitoring water quality is of elementary importance, as the following examples show:
It is helpful to determine the calcium content in water, as it can be used to determine if the water is hard or if the water (if it is drinking water) contains minerals. This can be determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AA) or inductively coupled plasma (ICP) atomic emission spectroscopy. However, a much simpler method is to ionize acid-bound calcium using an acid pretreatment. This method is often used to check the calcium content of water products before they are sold to consumers. It is a simple and quick method for checking the calcium content in water.
Another example is the monitoring of the calcium content of milk and milk beverages before sale to the consumer.