Analysis of Heavy Metals in Baby Food Using ICP-MS

User Benefits

- Heavy metals in various baby foods can be analyzed simultaneously with sufficient sensitivity. - Stable analysis can be performed even for baby foods with high matrix content. - Using the standard LabSolutions ICPMS rinse function, the time to clean the sample introduction system is minimized, which prevents carryover.

Introduction

Infants’ metabolic pathways are still developing, and because of their lower body weight, they are known to be more susceptible to the effects of harmful substances. In the United States, the Baby Food Safety Act 2021, and in the EU, Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/1987 require the control of toxic metals contained in baby foods. ICP-MS is suitable for the analysis of trace amounts of toxic metal elements because it can perform multi-element simultaneous analysis with high sensitivity. However, baby foods vary in matrix composition, which raises concerns about non-spectral interferences and long-term stability during ICP-MS analysis. This Application News describes the analysis of five baby foods with different matrices using the ICPMS-2040/2050. Additionally, spike recovery tests and long-term stability were assessed based on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Elemental Analysis Manual (EAM) Section 4.7.

December 24, 2025 GMT