Analytical Determination of Vitamin B12 Content in Infant and Toddler Milk Formulas by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

The development of a sample preparation method and optimization of the analytical instrumentation conditions were performed for the determination of the vitamin B₁₂ content in emulsified baby foods sold on the Korea market. After removal of the milk protein and fats by chloroform extraction and centrifugation, the vitamin B₁₂ was water extracted from the sample. Following filtration of the solution through a nylon filter, the water-soluble extract was purified by solid-phase extraction using a Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The solution eluted from the cartridge was dried under a stream of nitrogen gas and reconstituted with 1 mL of water. The sample solution was injected into an LC-MS/MS system after optimizing the mobile phase for vitamin B₁₂ detection. The calibration curve showed good linearity with the coefficient of correlation (r²) value of 0.9999. The limit of detection was 0.03 µg/L and the limit of quantitation was 0.1 µg/L. The method of detection limit was 0.02 µg/kg. The vitamin B₁₂ recovery from a spiking test was 99.62% for infant formula and 99.46% for cereal-based baby food. The sample preparation method developed in this study would be appropriate for the rapid determination of the vitamin B₁₂ content in infant formula and baby foods with emulsified milk characteristics. The ability to obtain stable results more quickly and efficiently would also allow governments to exercise a more extensive quality control inspection and monitoring of products expected to contain vitamin B₁₂. This method could be implemented in laboratories that require time and labor saving.