Simultaneous qualitative and quantitative determination of 104 fat-soluble synthetic dyes in foods using disperse solid-phase extraction and UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS analysis
Ping Qi, Qing‐qiong Zhou, Guiyun Chen, Zihao Lin, Jinli Zhao, Huiying Xu, Hui Gao, Donghao Liu, Xinwu Mao
Abstract
Public exposure to synthetic dyes through foods has attracted ongoing and serious attention. Here we developed and validated a simultaneous screening and quantitation method for the analysis of fat-soluble synthetic dyes that most frequently found in foods, using C 18 d-SPE clean-up and UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS on Full-MS/dd-MS 2 mode. During a single run, 104 dyes including 6 pairs of isomers were distinguished based on chromatographic separation and unique product ions. The method showed satisfactory linearity (R > 0.99), recoveries (61.3 %–118.8 %), precision (<20 %) and limit of quantification (0.05–0.5 mg/kg). For 98 % of test dyes, screening detection limits ranged from 2.5 to 25 μg/kg. The validated method was successfully applied to real commercial foodstuffs revealing the presence of two selected illegal dyes in three samples.