Rapid screening and identification of targeted and non-targeted illegal added drugs in functional foods by MRSIT-HRMS based on NIST screening database

• Published in: Food chemistry Vol. 446; p. 138913
• Main Authors: Hu, Ziyan, Zou, Yixuan, Ma, Zhi, Liu, Wenting, Jin, Xin, Yang, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 15.07.2024
• Subjects: Functional food; Identification; Illegal drugs; MRSIT-HRMS; Illegal drugs; Database; Identification; MRSIT-HRMS; Functional food
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.138913

•A novel method enables rapid screening of illegal added drugs in functional foods.•Develop a new rapid screening method by combining MRSIT, HRMS, and NIST tools.•Expand the scope of suspicious drugs screening by targeted and non-targeted methods.•Use this method to screen for new PDE-5 structural analogue.•The method is accurate, fast, and suitable for large number of samples screening. The last few decades have witnessed the increasing consumption of functional foods, leading to the expansion of the worldwide market. However, the illegal addition drugs in functional foods remains incessant despite repeated prohibition, making it a key focus of strict crackdowns by regulatory authorities. Effective analytical tools and procedures are desperately needed to rapidly screen and identify illegally added drugs in a large number of samples, given the growing amount and diversity of these substances in functional foods. The MRSIT-HRMS (Multiple Sample Rapid Introduction combined with High Resolution Mass Spectrometry) without chromatographic separation, after direct sampling, utilizes NIST software (National Institute of Standards and Technology) matching with a home-built library to target identification and non-targeted screen of illegal additives. When applied to 50 batches of suspicious samples, the targeted method detected illegal added drugs in 41 batches of samples, while the non-targeted method screened a new phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitor type structural derivative. The positive results obtained by the targeted method were consistent with LC-MS/MS (QQQ). The novel MRSIT-HRMS with a limit of quantification (LOD) of 1 μg/mL achieved 100 % correct identification for all 50 batches of actual samples, demonstrating its potential as a highly promising and powerful tool for fast screening of illegally added drugs in functional food, especially when compared to traditional LC-MS/MS methods. This is essential for ensuring drug safety and public health.