Development and validation of a stable-isotope dilution liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of bisphenols in ready-made meals

Due to their growing consumption, ready-made meals are a major dietary component for many people in today's society, representing an important potential route of human exposure to several food contaminants. The recent restrictions in the use of bisphenol A have led the plastic industry to look for alternative chemicals, most of them belonging to the same family of p,p′-bisphenols.The aim of the current work was to develop and validate a method based on stable-isotope dilution liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of bisphenol A and its main analogs – bisphenol S, 4,4′-sulfonylbis(2-methylphenol), bisphenol F, bisphenol E, bisphenol B, bisphenol Z, bisphenol AF, bisphenol AP, tetrabromobisphenol A and bisphenol P – in solid foodstuffs, and particularly in ready-made meals.Extraction was carried out by ultrasound-assisted extraction after sample disruption with sand. A selective solid-phase extraction procedure was then applied to reduce potential matrix interferences. Derivatization of bisphenols with pyridine-3-sulfonyl chloride increased their ionization efficiency by electrospray ionization. Validation of the proposed method was performed in terms of selectivity, matrix effects, linearity, precision, measurement uncertainty, trueness and limits of detection. Satisfactory repeatability and intermediate precision were obtained; the related relative standard deviations were ≤7.8% and ≤10%, respectively. The relative expanded uncertainty (k=2) was below 17% for all bisphenol analogs and the trueness of the method was demonstrated by spike recovery experiments. Low limits of detection, in the range from 0.025μgkg⁻¹ to 0.140μgkg⁻¹, were obtained for all compounds. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method, it was eventually applied to several ready-made meals purchased from different supermarkets in Belgium.