Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026
An Improved Technique for Trimethylamine Detection in Animal-Derived Medicine by Headspace Gas Chromatography-Tandem Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry
Published on: March 10, 2023
Analysis of Taurine in Infant Formula and Adult Nutritionals by HILIC-MS/MS: Collaborative Study, AOAC Official
Brendon D Gill1, Jackie E Wood1, Geert A Ten Kate2
1Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, P.O. Box 7, Waitoa, 3380 New Zealand.
Background:
Taurine is recognized as an essential growth factor and as being critical in the maintenance of functional tissue regulation. The fortification of taurine to infant formulas is necessary to provide sufficient nutrient to maintain serum levels equivalent to those of their counterparts fed on their mother's milk.
Objective:
To evaluate method reproducibility of AOAC 2022.03 Official First Action method for compliance with the performance requirements described in AOAC Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPR®) 2014.013.
Experimental:
Following protein precipitation with Carrez solutions, taurine is extracted and analyzed by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry using multiple reaction monitoring. Stable isotope labelled taurine internal standard is used for quantification to correct for losses in extraction and variations in ionization in the ion source.
Results:
Thirteen laboratories participated in the analysis of blind-duplicate samples of seven nutritional products. After outliers were removed, precision as reproducibility was found to be within limits set in SMPR 2014.013 (≤ 8%) for all seven test samples and all had acceptable HorRatR values ranging from 0.4 to 0.7.
Conclusions:
The method described is suitable for the quantification of taurine in infant formulas and adult nutritionals. The AOAC Expert Review Panel for the Stakeholder Program for Infant Formula and Adult Nutritionals evaluated the method and accompanying validation data from this multi-laboratory testing study in June 2025 and recommended Official Method 2022.03 for adoption as a Final Action Official Method.
Highlights:
A multi-laboratory testing study of a HILIC-MS for the determination of taurine is described.
