Simple and rapid quantification of brominated vegetable oil in commercial soft drinks by LC-MS

We report here a simple and rapid method for the quantification of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in soft drinks based upon liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Unlike previously reported methods, this novel method does not require hydrolysis, extraction or derivatization steps, but rather a simple "dilute and shoot" sample preparation. The quantification is conducted by mass spectrometry in selected ion recording mode and a single point standard addition procedure. The method was validated in the range of 5-25microg/mL BVO, encompassing the legal limit of 15microg/mL established by the US FDA for fruit-flavored beverages in the US market. The method was characterized by excellent intra- and inter-assay accuracy (97.3-103.4%) and very low imprecision [0.5-3.6% (RSD)]. The direct nature of the quantification, simplicity, and excellent statistical performance of this methodology constitute clear advantages in relation to previously published methods for the analysis of BVO in soft drinks.