Abstract
A simultaneous determination method was developed for nine preservatives (benzoic acid, sorbic acid, dehydroacetic acid, methyl-, ethyl-, isopropyl-, propyl-, isobutyl- and butyl-parabens) in sausage by liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS). Each parameter was established by multiple reaction monitoring in negative mode. Separation was achieved on a phenyl-hexyl ($2.5{\mu}m$, $2.1{\times}150mm$, Waters) with A-20 mM ammonium acetate containing 0.1% acetic acid in water, B-Acetonitrile as mobile phase with gradient mode at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The developed method was validated for specificity, linearity, accuracy and precision in sausages samples. Linearity was over 0.998 with calibration curve of the mixed standards. The mean recoveries from sausages fortified at the level of 2.0~10.0 mg/L were in range of 98.60~109.16% with RSDs lower than 8.93%. The limits of detection (LOD) and the limits of quantification (LOQ) were in the range between 0.0003~0.085 mg/L and 0.01~0.257 mg/L, respectively. Intra-day precision and inter-day precision were 0.45~6.16% and 2.81~13.33%, respectively. Using presently developed determination method, 33 field sausage samples from Gwangju city in Korea were screened over nine preservatives. As a result, no preservatives were detected in all samples.