A novel one-step extraction method for simultaneously determining eleven polar heterocyclic aromatic amines in meat products by UHPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

A new preparation procedure, allowing the analysis of 11 polar heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in meat samples, is proposed and applied to commercial meat products. It is based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The procedure involves a one-step extraction using hydrochloric acid coupled with a solid-phase extraction clean-up using Oasis MCX cartridges. Significantly higher recoveries were obtained (ranging from 58.2% to 107.6%) for every target polar HAAs from roasted pork samples prepared in a laboratory compared with a commonly used reference method based on multiple extractions. The UHPLC-MS/MS parameters were optimized to simultaneously analyze all the 11 HAAs within 17 min with the limits of quantification (LOQs) < 4.3 μg L⁻¹ using standard solutions. The LOQs for the spiked meat extract (0.026–0.659 ng g⁻¹) and adequate day-to-day precision ranging from 6.17% to 12.03% (N = 15) were obtained. Five commercial meat products (smoked fish, roasted chicken wing, roasted pork, grilled beef, and sausage) were spiked with three concentrations (low, medium and high) of the HAAs standards. Satisfactory recoveries (about 50–110%) were obtained, which verify the applicability and advantage of the proposed method.