Determination of Seven N-nitrosamines in Agricultural Food Matrices Using GC-PCI-MS/MS

The quantitative analytical methods for seven N-nitrosamines including N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosodibutylamine (NDBA), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), and N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR) were established for agricultural food matrices. Four food matrices were used for the method development: rice soup as a fatless solid matrix, apple juice as a fatless liquid matrix, corn oil as a fat-rich liquid matrix, and 20 % alcohol as an alcohol matrix. A combination of solid-supported liquid-liquid extraction (SLLE) using Extrelut NT and a solid phase extraction (SPE) using Florisil was employed for fatless matrices. For an alcohol matrix, only SLLE was used without SPE, and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was established for a fat-rich matrix. The extract was analyzed by gas chromatography-positive chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-PCI-MS/MS) using ammonia gas as an ion source. Linearity, recovery, repeatability, inter-day precision, reproducibility, and uncertainty were evaluated for method validation using four matrices. Method detection limits for all of the investigated N-nitrosamines were ranged from 0.10 to 0.18 μg/kg for the rice soup, from 0.10 to 0.19 μg/kg for the apple juice, 0.10 μg/kg for the corn oil, and from 0.10 to 0.25 μg/kg for 20 % alcohol, depending on N-nitrosamines. Established methods were applied to determine seven N-nitrosamines in some agricultural food products.