Simultaneous determination of N-nitrosamines in ready-to-cook dishes: optimized extraction-purification protocol and...

Area of Science:

• Food Safety Analysis
• Analytical Chemistry
• Mass Spectrometry

Background:

• Ready-to-cook (RTC) dishes pose food safety risks due to potential carcinogen formation.
• N-nitrosamines (NAs) are carcinogenic compounds often generated during food processing.
• Limited data exists on NA contamination in complex RTC food matrices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a robust analytical method for detecting 11 NAs in RTC dishes.
• To compare the performance of GC-MS/MS and GC-Q/TOF MS for NA analysis.
• To assess the contamination levels of NAs in commercial RTC products.

Main Methods:

• Optimized a steam distillation-solid phase extraction (SPE) system for sample pretreatment.
• Utilized gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS).
• Employed gas chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-Q/TOF MS).

Main Results:

• Both GC-MS/MS and GC-Q/TOF MS platforms showed excellent linearity and recoveries (>80%).
• GC-Q/TOF MS demonstrated superior anti-interference capabilities and slightly lower LODs.
• N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and N-nitrosodiphenylamine (NDPHA) were detected in 34.1% and 52.7% of samples, respectively, with aquatic products showing high concentrations.

Conclusions:

• A reliable analytical method for 11 NAs in RTC dishes was established.
• Aquatic product-based RTC dishes require urgent attention due to significant NA contamination.
• Further research on health risks and production controls for NAs in RTC foods is recommended.