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Ingegno M, Zianni R, Della Rovere I, Chiappinelli A, Nardelli V, Casamassima F, Calitri A, Quinto M, Nardiello D, Iammarino M. Development of a highly sensitive method based on QuEChERS and GC-MS/MS for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in infant foods. Front Nutr 2024; 11:1403541. [PMID: 38798769 PMCID: PMC11116592 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1403541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are environmental contaminants that can be found in various food products, including those intended for infants. Due to their potential health risks, it is crucial to develop sensitive analytical methods for the accurate determination of PAHs in infant foods. This study describes the development and validation of a highly sensitive method for the quantification of European PAH markers, namely benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, and benzo[b]fluoranthene, using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), in baby food samples. The first step was the optimization of the sample preparation procedure, performed using different methods based on the QuEChERS approach, also testing different extraction solvents. Several factors such as extraction efficiency, selectivity, and recovery were evaluated to choose the most effective procedure for sample preparation. Furthermore, the GC-MS/MS method was optimized, evaluating parameters such as linearity, sensitivity, accuracy, and robustness using spiked infant food samples. The method demonstrated excellent linearities with a correlation coefficient higher than 0.999 over a wide concentration range, and limits of detection and limits of quantification in the range 0.019-0.036 μg/kg and 0.06-0.11 μg/kg, respectively. Extraction recoveries were between 73.1 and 110.7%, with relative standard deviations always lower than 8%. These findings are compliant with the indications of the European Commission (Reg. 836/2011). To assess the applicability of the method to official control activities, a survey was conducted on commercially available infant food products. Four markers were determined in commercial samples belonging to different food categories for infants and young children. The outcome of this monitoring showed that PAH contamination, in all samples, was below the quantification limits. In conclusion, the developed GC-MS/MS method provides a highly sensitive and reliable approach for the determination of PAHs in baby foods. The optimized sample preparation, instrumental parameters, and validation results ensure accurate quantification of 4 PAHs even at trace levels. This method could contribute to the assessment of PAH exposure in infants and it could support regulatory efforts to ensure the safety and quality of infant food products with regular monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariateresa Ingegno
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
| | - Rosalia Zianni
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
| | - Ines Della Rovere
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
| | - Andrea Chiappinelli
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
| | - Valeria Nardelli
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
| | - Francesco Casamassima
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
| | - Anna Calitri
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
| | - Maurizio Quinto
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resources and Engineering (DAFNE), University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
| | - Donatella Nardiello
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resources and Engineering (DAFNE), University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
| | - Marco Iammarino
- Struttura Complessa di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy
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Meng Z, Fan S, Yuan X, Li Q, Huang Y, Niu L, Shi G, Zhang Y. Rapid Screening of 22 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Residues in Vegetable Oils by Gas Chromatography-Electrostatic Field Orbitrap High Resolution Mass Spectrometry. Front Nutr 2022; 9:949025. [PMID: 35903452 PMCID: PMC9320171 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2022.949025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 06/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
A method for simultaneous determination of 22 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) residues in vegetable oils by gas chromatography-electrostatic field orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (Orbitrap GC-MS) was established. The samples were vortexed with acetonitrile, centrifuged at 8,000 r/min for 5 min, and frozen at −70°C for 10 min. The extracts of upper layer were poured out, dried with nitrogen at 40°C, redissolved in dichloromethane, and measured by Orbitrap GC-MS. The matrix interference in vegetable oil could be effectively removed by determining the accurate mass number of target compounds under the full scan mode. Six typical vegetable oil samples (soybean oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, olive oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil) were used for method validation. The calibration curve displayed good linearity in the range of 1–100 ng/mL, with correlation coefficients > 0.9950. The limits of detection (LODs) were in the range of 0.10–0.60 μg/kg, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were in the range of 0.35–2.00 μg/kg. The average spiked recoveries of 22 PAHs in 6 matrices at 5, 50 and 100 μg/kg levels were 76.4–115.4%, and the average relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 1.8–10.8%. The results showed that 22 PAHs were detected in 6 types of 90 edible vegetable oil samples in the Chinese market by this method. Meanwhile, the abundance of light PAHs (LPAHs) was higher than that of heavy PAHs (HPAHs), and its relative contribution of LPAHs to the total PAHs was higher. All levels of BaP conformed to the Chinese requirement of upper limit, 10 μg/kg. However, 13.3 and 11.1% of the samples exceeded the maximum limits of BaP and PAH4 set by EU, 2 and 10 μg/kg, respectively. The total concentrations of 22 PAHs (defined as PAH22) varies greatly among different oil species, and the average PAH22 contents were listed in descending order as follows: peanut oil > sesame oil > olive oil > rapeseed oil > soybean oil > sunflower seed oil. The established method effectively avoided interference from large amounts of lipids and pigments. Therefore, the method is simple, sensitive and suitable for rapid screening and confirmation of PAHs in vegetable oil.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhijuan Meng
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Sufang Fan
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Xiaoxuan Yuan
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Qiang Li
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Yunxia Huang
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Lisha Niu
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Guohua Shi
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
- *Correspondence: Guohua Shi
| | - Yan Zhang
- Hebei Food Safety Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Special Food Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Hebei Engineering Research Center for Special Food Safety and Health, Hebei Food Inspection and Research Institute, Shijiazhuang, China
- Hebei Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, College of Forensic Medicine, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
- Yan Zhang
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From sea salt to seawater: a novel approach for the production of water CRMs. Anal Bioanal Chem 2022; 414:4745-4756. [PMID: 35545684 PMCID: PMC9174130 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-022-04098-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
Natural water certified reference materials (CRMs) are mostly available in a liquid form, and they are produced starting from suitable environmental samples. Many precautions are usually needed to avoid biological or physical degradation, including filtration, acidification, and sterilization. In this study, the drawbacks associated with liquid-based seawater CRMs were tackled by developing a salt-based seawater proxy for nutrients that could be reconstituted in water solution just before use. Phosphate, silicate, and nitrate were chosen as target analytes. Sea salt mimicking the composition of seawater was spiked with an aqueous solution of the analytes and homogenized using a high-energy planetary ball mill (uhom < 1.2%). The salt powder CRM SALT-1 ( https://doi.org/10.4224/crm.2022.salt-1 ) demonstrated good short- and long-term stability for nutrients. When the SALT-1 was reconstituted in water at the 4.0% w/w level, the resulting solution had similar properties with respect to typical seawater in terms of major constituents (± 20%), trace metals, density (1.023 g/mL), pH (8.8-9.0), and optical properties relevant to the photometric characterization. Phosphate and silicate were quantified by photometry (molybdenum blue method, batch mode), whereas nitrate was quantified by isotope dilution GC-MS (uchar < 1.2%). In the SALT-1 reconstituted seawater solution at the 4.0% w/w salt level, the nutrient amount concentration was w(phosphate, PO43-) = 1.615 ± 0.030 μmol/L, w(silicate as SiO2) = 8.89 ± 0.31 μmol/L, and w(nitrate, NO3-) = 18.98 ± 0.45 μmol/L at the 95% confidence (k = 2). Overall, the SALT-1 CRM exhibits similar nutrient profile and general analytical characteristics as the MOOS-3 CRM. However, the SALT-1 has much reduced preparation, storage, and distribution cost, likely much better long-term stability, and it could enable the production of lower cost and more accessible seawater reference materials.
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Global situation of reference materials to assure coffee, cocoa, and tea quality and safety. Trends Analyt Chem 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2021.116381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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Optimization of extraction conditions for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons determination in smoked rice using the high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection. JOURNAL OF FOOD MEASUREMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s11694-020-00372-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Olivares I, Souza G, Nogueira A, Toledo G, Marcki D. Trends in developments of certified reference materials for chemical analysis - Focus on food, water, soil, and sediment matrices. Trends Analyt Chem 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2017.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
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Kuźmicz K, Ciemniak A. Assessing contamination of smoked sprats (Sprattus sprattus) with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and changes in its level during storage in various types of packaging. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND HEALTH. PART. B, PESTICIDES, FOOD CONTAMINANTS, AND AGRICULTURAL WASTES 2018; 53:1-11. [PMID: 29083985 DOI: 10.1080/03601234.2017.1369306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The analysis of material used in this study demonstrated that the amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in smoked sprats varies from the level below the lowest detection limit in muscles up to 9.99 µg kg-1 of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) in fish skin. Such a high level of PAHs in skin was reported only in one of six batches of sprats, while mean BaP level was at 1.69 µg kg-1. Regardless such a high BaP level in skin, its concentration in muscles did not exceed the maximum acceptable level. The study objective was to assess to what extent packaging materials adsorb PAH compounds from food. Changes in the PAH levels were monitored in fish during their storage in packages made of various materials. The storage time was from 0 to 168 hours. The obtained results varied considerably, therefore their scatter did not allow to confirm unequivocally the preliminary hypothesis about the reduction of PAHs due to their migration to packaging material. However, analysis of the packaging used in this study demonstrated a significant increase in the level of total 16 PAHs. When high-density polyethylene (HDPE) packaging was analysed, a six-fold increase in the total 16 PAHs was observed comparing to the blank sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamila Kuźmicz
- a Faculty of Food Sciences and Fisheries , West Pomeranian University of Technology , Szczecin , Poland
| | - Artur Ciemniak
- a Faculty of Food Sciences and Fisheries , West Pomeranian University of Technology , Szczecin , Poland
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Comparing d-SPE Sorbents of the QuEChERS Extraction Method and EMR-Lipid for the Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH4) in Food of Animal and Plant Origin. FOOD ANAL METHOD 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s12161-016-0750-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Yang S, Yang D, Hu K, Zhou H, Guo Y, Du G, Lu Y. Certification of a new certified reference material of honokiol. Anal Bioanal Chem 2015; 407:5849-55. [PMID: 26038190 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-015-8769-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2015] [Revised: 05/03/2015] [Accepted: 05/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Honokiol is the most important active pharmaceutical ingredient in Magnolia officinalis, which is a famous traditional Chinese medicine and commonly used in clinical practice. In order to control the quality of honokiol and related pharmaceuticals, a new certified reference material (CRM) of honokiol was developed. The studies of sample preparation, homogeneity, stability, value assignment, and uncertainty evaluation were accomplished in this paper. Three different methods, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), mass balance method (MB), and coulometric titration (CT), were employed to determine the purity of honokiol. Specifically, the DSC and CT methods for purity determination of honokiol were established for the first time. The purity of honokiol CRM, after validation and evaluation, was found to be 99.3%, with an expanded uncertainty of 0.5% (k = 2).
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiying Yang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Polymorphic Drugs, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100050, China
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