[Determination of fructooligosaccharides in milk powder using high performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled...

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are usually added in milk powder as a kind of prebiotic. Thus, quantitative analysis of the FOS is very important for the quality control of milk powder. In this study, a simple method for the simultaneous determination of three FOS components with degrees of polymerization (DP) 3-5 in milk powder was developed by high performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). The samples were extracted with 50% (v/v) ethanol aqueous solution and defatted by an On Guard RP pretreatment column. The separation was performed on a CarboPac PA200 column by gradient elution using deionized water, 0. 2 mol/L NaOH solution and 0. 4 mol/L NaAc solution as the mobile phases. The flow rate was 0. 4 mL/min. The column temperature was 30 °C; and the injection volume was 25 µL. Good linear response was observed in the concentration range of 0.05-10 mg/L (r2 >0. 9993). The limits of quantification were 0. 02, 0. 005 and 0. 02 mg/L for 1-kestose, nystose and fructofuranosyl-nystose, respectively. The mean recoveries varied from 86. 0% to 114. 0% at three spiked levels of 0. 5, 1. 0 and 5. 0 mg/L. The short-chain fructooligosaccharides from inulooligosaccharides (IOS) were successfully separated by the developed HPAEC-PAD method. The method is simple, accurate, sensitive, and helpful for the quality control of milk powder.