Simultaneous Determination of 10 Photoinitiators in Milk by Solid-Phase Microextraction Coupled with Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

Photoinitiators (PIs) are widely used in food packaging materials, can migrate easily from packaging materials to food, and cause food contamination. It is essential to establish a method of determining PIs residues in food. A new method for simultaneously determining 10 kinds of PIs in milk has been established by using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) combined with a simple method of protein precipitation as the pretreatment approach and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry as the detecting technique. The limits of detection for 10 PIs in different milks were between 0.05 and 1.4 μg/L (skimmed milk), between 0.07 and 2.2 μg/L (semi-skimmed milk), between 0.11 and 4.4 μg/L (whole milk), respectively. The recoveries were from 71.5% to 133.5%, and the relative standard deviations were less than 15%. Twelve kinds of packed milk with different brands and fat contents were determined using this method. Practical Application Established method can be used for determination of photoinitiators, are widely used in food packaging materials, in milk.