Determination of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers in chicken whole blood by a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

Novel QuEChERS-ultra-performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of vitamin D and vitamin K in vitamin-fortified nanoemulsions

Nanoemulsion is a new vehicle for food fortification. In this study, a simple and reliable method for the simultaneous analysis of vitamins D₂, D₃, K₁, and K₂ in vitamin-fortified nanoemulsions was developed using QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) extraction and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry techniques. Response surface methodology was employed to optimize the extraction parameters. The method was validated for the vitamins in terms of LOD (0.03-0.25 μg/L), LOQ (0.10-0.77 μg/L), intra-day (≤4.50%), inter-day precisions (≤6.43%), and accuracy (98.5%-108.0%). The recoveries of the vitamin-fortified nanoemulsion and yogurt were in the ranges of 104.0%-109.2% and 73.3%-85.2%, respectively. The solvent consumption and analysis time were reduced by 5.6 and 3.3 folds, respectively, rendering it superior to the traditional extraction methods established by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Update of the risk assessment of hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs) in food

The European Commission asked EFSA to update its 2011 risk assessment on hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs) in food. HBCDDs, predominantly mixtures of the stereoisomers α-, β- and γ-HBCDD, were widely used additive flame retardants. Concern has been raised because of the occurrence of HBCDDs in the environment, food and in humans. Main targets for toxicity are neurodevelopment, the liver, thyroid hormone homeostasis and the reproductive and immune systems. The CONTAM Panel concluded that the neurodevelopmental effects on behaviour in mice can be considered the critical effects. Based on effects on spontaneous behaviour in mice, the Panel identified a lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) of 0.9 mg/kg body weight (bw) as the Reference Point, corresponding to a body burden of 0.75 mg/kg bw. The chronic intake that would lead to the same body burden in humans was calculated to be 2.35 μg/kg bw per day. The derivation of a health-based guidance value (HBGV) was not considered appropriate. Instead, the margin of exposure (MOE) approach was applied to assess possible health concerns. Over 6,000 analytical results for HBCDDs in food were used to estimate the exposure across dietary surveys and age groups of the European population. The most important contributors to the chronic dietary LB exposure to HBCDDs were fish meat, eggs, livestock meat and poultry. The CONTAM Panel concluded that the resulting MOE values support the conclusion that current dietary exposure to HBCDDs across European countries does not raise a health concern. An exception is breastfed infants with high milk consumption, for which the lowest MOE values may raise a health concern.

Simultaneous quantitative assessment of nine glycosides in tobacco by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A simple and efficient method combining ultrasound-assisted extraction, the conditions of which were optimized by response surface methodology, with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry was established and validated for the absolute quantification of nine non-volatile neutral glycosides originating from tobacco (Nicotiana tobaccum L.) leaves, comprising three phenolic glycosides, one benzanoid glycoside, and five sesquiterpene glycosides within three isomers, originating from tobacco leaves. Factors of extraction time, sample quantity, extraction solvent, liquid chromatographic conditions, and electrospray ionization parameters were carefully investigated to ensure the selectivity and sensitivity of the method. All calibration curves showed excellent coefficients of determination ranging from 0.9940 to 0.9996, within the range of tested concentrations. The limits of detection and quantification were 2.33-25.9 and 7.06-78.5 ng/mL, respectively. Satisfactory values of accuracy were between 80.1 to 107.9% among different sample matrixes. The relative standard deviations of intra- and inter-day analysis were less than 13.7 and 13.0% respectively. The developed method was successfully applied in a pilot study to determine the amounts of the nine endogenous glycosides in real flue-cured tobacco samples obtained from different habitats in China.