Analysis of fumonisins B1, B2 and B3 in corn-based baby food by pressurized liquid extraction and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive and reliable method using pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and liquid chromatography (LC)/electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry with a triple quadrupole (QqQ) analyzer has been developed for the analysis of fumonisin B1 (FB1), fumonisin B2 (FB2) and fumonisin B3 (FB3) in corn-based baby foods. Influence of several extraction parameters that affect PLE efficiency such as temperature, pressure, solvent extraction, number of cycles and dispersant/clean-up agents were studied. The selected PLE operating method was: 3 g of sample was packed into 11 ml stainless-steel cell and fumonisins were extracted with methanol at 40 °C, 34 atm in one cycle of 5 min at 60% flush. The analytes were ionized in ESI operating with positive ion mode and identified by selecting two monitoring transitions, permitting quantification and confirmation in a single injection. Recoveries ranged from 68% to 83% at fortification levels of 200 μg kg−1 with relative standard deviation (RSD) from 4% to 12%. The limits of quantification were from 2 μg kg−1 for FB1 and FB2, and 5 μg kg−1 for FB3, which are below the maximum residue level established by the European Union legislation in infant formulas. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of twenty seven samples of baby food products collected from different markets, and one positive sample with a content of 15.9 μg kg−1 for FB1, 9.2 μg kg−1for FB2 and 5.8 μg kg−1 for FB3 was obtained. Given the simplicity and potential of the proposed procedure, its application for safety control is recommended.