DEVELOPMENT OF A HPLC-MS/MS MULTI-METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF FOOD ADDITIVES WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON SWEETENERS

Around 320 food additives, including sweeteners, are approved in the EU and may be used for technological purposes or to improve the organoleptic properties of food. According to Article 27 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, member states should systematically monitor the intake levels and use of food additives on the basis of a risk-based approach. According to EU Recommendation 2023/965, analytical occurrence data of food additives should be collected [1]. In the BfR MEAL study, a wide range of sweeteners were determined in low calorie or sugar-free soft drinks, and the majority of the soft drinks analyzed contained more than one sweetener, including aspartame, cyclamate and steviol glycosides [2]. According to the EFSA opinion, the exposure of aspartame, acesulfame K and saccharin is particularly relevant in the food categories "flavored fermented milk products" and "soft drinks" for infants, children, adolescents and the elderly [3]. For this reason, it makes sense to develop analytical multi-methods that enable the analysis of additive combinations in different foods. The multi-methods should cover as many food additives in different concentrations as possible, include uniform and simple sample preparation for different foods, enable rapid analysis and provide reliable results [4]. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was chosen because of its high sensitivity and selectivity for the quantitative determination of sweeteners in various foods. The initial focus of the method development was on soft drinks and fermented milk mix products. The aim of this work is to develop one or more HPLC-MS/MS multi-methods in negative and positive ionization mode to include other food additives such as colorings and preservatives at a later stage. In particular, the different polarities of the analytes were taken into account and evaluated by using reversed-phase HPLC and hydrophilic interaction chromatography. To date, a total of 26 sweeteners, including 7 sugar substitutes and 9 steviol glycosides, are included in the method.