A rapid and sensitive evaluation of nitrite content in Saudi Arabian processed meat and poultry using a novel ultra performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry method

Quantitative assessment of nitrite (NO2−) anion was performed using a newly developed high throughput ultra performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometric (UPLC–MS) method. The nitrite determination with the proposed method using micellar mobile phase was unknown. Selected ion reaction mode using negative electrospray ionization was adopted for the identification and quantitative analysis of nitrite. The chromatographic separation was performed using BEH C-18 column and a micellar mobile phase consisted of sodium dodecyl sulphate and acetonitrile in ratio 30:70 was used. The elution of nitrite anion was accomplished in less than 1 min. Under the optimal analysis conditions, the linearity of the developed method was checked in the concentration range of 0.5–20 mg kg−1 NO2− with an excellent correlation coefficient of 0.996. The precisions of the method with relative standard deviation <2% was observed when standard at concentration of 1 mg kg−1 was used. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation of the developed mass spectrometric method was found to be 0.114 and 0.346 mg kg−1, respectively. The developed UPLC/MS method was applied to quantify this anion in processed meats and poultries from various super market of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh region). The recoveries of the nitrite in the various samples were found in the range of 100.03–103.5%.