Development of a simultaneous analytical method for the dietary exposure determination of β-Carboline alkaloids in foods

• Published in: Food chemistry 2024-12, Vol.460 (Pt 2), p.140546, Article 140546
• Main Authors: Cho, Yoeseph, Jeong, Woo Yeon, Hwang, Sungmin, Na, Sunhwan, Park, Hana, Heo, Soohyun, Park, Saeyeon, Lim, Kyung-Jik, Shin, Han-Seung, Son, Junghyun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dietary exposure; Food analysis; Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry; QuEChERS method; β-Carboline alkaloid
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.140546

As β-carboline (βC) alkaloids, posing potential health risks, are present in a wide variety of foods, determining the exposure degrees of food to these alkaloids from dietary activity is key to ensuring food safety. Here, we developed a rapid and sensitive simultaneous analytical method for six βC alkaloids in food. We optimized the buffered QuEChERS method, which includes a clean-up process through dispersive solid phase extraction, to extract the target compounds from food matrices; then, these compounds were detected via liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. We established calibration ranges for each target compound and matrix within the range of 0.05–250 μg/kg, and verified linearity (R2 ≥ 0.99) and limit of quantitation (≤1.63 μg/kg). Furthermore, we validated trueness (85.8%–118.8%) and precision (≤18.7%) at three levels within the calibration range, including the lowest and highest concentrations. Finally, we employed the developed method to determine the βC alkaloid contents in 304 samples of 41 food items and dietary exposure of six βC alkaloids resulting from daily intake. Although βC alkaloids were detected in 86.2% of the samples, exposure level to the 41 food items was insufficient to cause toxicity. •We developed a method to detect six β-carboline alkaloids in foods.•The proposed analytical method is based on QuEChERS and LC-MS/MS.•A total of 86.2% of samples from 41 food items contained β-carboline alkaloids.•Previously uninvestigated β-carboline alkaloids were detected in 13 food items.•Six β-carboline alkaloids were insufficient to cause toxicity in 41 food items.