Determination of 50 non-edible additives in health food using the QuEChERS method and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was established for the determination of 50 non-food additives in health food. The samples were extracted with methanol and purified using the QuEChERS method. The separation was performed on an Agilent Phoroshell SB C18 column (150 mm×3.0 mm, 2.7 μm) with a mobile phase of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous solution and acetonitrile. The determination was performed by MS/MS in positive or negative electrospray ionization and multiple reaction monitoring mode. The results demonstrated that all 50 compounds could be well separated with a good linear relationship (r2>0.99). The limits of detection (LODs, S/N ≥ 3) and limits of quantification (LOQs, S/N ≥ 10) were in the range of 0.010-1 mg/kg and 0.020-2 mg/kg, respectively. The matrix effects in five kinds of typical health foods (oral liquid, tablets, ointments, pills, and capsules) were evaluated and reduced by means of matrix matching. At the spiked levels of 1 LOQ, 2 LOQ, and 10 LOQ, the recoveries of all drugs varied from 63.1% to 115.7% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of no more than 8.9% (n=6). The method is simple, sensitive, practical, and suitable for monitoring 50 non-edible additives in health food.