Abstract: Objective:To establish an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS)method for the determination of 20 inorganic elements in peach gum,and to compare the differences of inorganic elements in peach gum between different producing areas by principal component analysis. Methods:The contents of 20 inorganic elements in peach gum from 10 producing areas were determined by ICP-MS with wet digestion,and the principal component analysis and evaluation were carried out. Results:The RSD values of precision,repeatability and stability were 0.4%~2.6%,0.4%~6.2% and 0.5%~3.6% respectively. The samples were stable within 3 h.The recovery of each element was 88.7%~107.8%,RSD was 0.9%~3.7%,which indicated that the method was reliable. The inorganic elements in peach gum from 10 producing areas were similar,K content was the highest,followed by Mg,while K,P,Sr and Ba had great differences. Heavy metal elements in 10 producing areas were lower than the limit. The correlation analysis showed that 28 pairs of elements were correlated,of which 4 pairs were extremely significantly positively correlated(P<0.01),and 24 pairs were significantly positively correlated(P<0.05). By principal component analysis,the cumulative variance contribution rate of the first four principal component factors was 85.757%,which could be used as a comprehensive evaluation standard. V,Li,Ge,Sr,P,Mg,Fe,Mn,Co and K were the characteristic elements of peach gum. Finally,it was concluded that the comprehensive scores of peach gum from Pingnan,Cangnan,Fujian and Wuxi in Jiangsu were high. Conclusion:Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS)is a rapid and sensitive method for the determination of inorganic elements in peach gum,which can provide reference for the quality control and safety evaluation of peach gum.