Confirmatory Analysis of Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Milk and Infant Formula Using UHPLC-MS/MS

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the sensitive determination and unambiguous confirmation of residues of per and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in breastmilk, retail milk and infant formulas following two sample preparation methods. Sample pre-treatment was carried out by a simplified QuEChERS method without requiring dSPE or any further clean-up. The method was validated in accordance with the requirements of Commission Decision 657/2002/EC with slight modifications. The method displayed good linearity with R-2 ranging from 0.9843-0.9998 for all target PFAS. The recovery and within-laboratory reproducibility of the method (n = 63) were in the range 60-121% and 5-28%, respectively. The decision limit, detection capability and limit of quantitation ranged from 30-60 ng kg(-1) to 40-100 ng kg(-1) and 5-50 ng kg(-1), respectively. Acceptable matrix effect values in the range -45-29% were obtained with uncertainty of measurement lower than 25% for all target PFAS. The method displays its suitability for the sensitive and high-throughput confirmatory analysis of C-4-C-14 PFAS in breastmilk, dairy milk and infant formulas.

Automated summary

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the sensitive determination and unambiguous confirmation of residues of per and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in breastmilk, retail milk and infant formulas. The method, using a simplified QuEChERS method for sample pre-treatment, showed good linearity, recovery and within-laboratory reproducibility. The method is suitable for the sensitive and high-throughput confirmatory analysis of C-4-C-14 PFAS in breastmilk, dairy milk and infant formulas.