Development of Non-Derivatization LC/MS/MS Method for Determination of Amino Acids in Infant and Adult Nutritional Formulas Following AOAC Requirements

Introduction

Quantitative analysis of proteinogenic L-α-amino acids and taurine in infant and adult formulas are performed routinely in manufacturer and nutritional laboratories. Milk powder, a source of high quality proteins, contains the essential amino acids (EAA) that must be obtained from nutritional intake. Taurine is commonly found in infant formula milk, which can protect human from exposure to toxic substances. Quantitative analysis of amino acids is conventionally carried out by HPLC-RF methods with pre- or post-column derivatization, which involves a tedious procedure. Normally, three hydrolysis procedures are needed to determine all the AA listed in the AOAC requirements. Recently, non-derivatization LC/MS/MS method was reported, which is simple and fast, and it was applied to quantitation of free amino acids and hydrolyzed proteins in various food or biological samples. This study focuses on validation of the non-derivatization LC/MS/MS method for determination of total proteinogenic amino acids and taurine using the standard reference materials (SRM) NIST 1849a infant/adult nutritional formula.

January 16, 2020 GMT