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Establishment and Application of Infant Formula Fingerprints by RP-HPLC

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Abstract

An efficient method for rapid and simple identification of infant formula quality was investigated so as to prevent brand counterfeit of infant formulas. Reversed-phase, high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method combined with chemometric method was developed for fingerprints analysis. To optimize the RP-HPLC conditions, the RP-HPLC analysis was performed on a C8 column by using gradient elution with 0.1% (v/v) aqueous trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in water as mobile phase A and 0.1% (v/v) TFA in acetonitrile as mobile phase B, the flow rate was 0.5 mL min−1, and the detection wavelength was set at 214 nm. Three different stages of infant formulas of two series (R1 and R2) of R brand were analyzed to establish infant formula fingerprints of each series at different stages under optimal conditions. Five major common peaks in each chromatogram of the infant formulas were used in fingerprint analysis. The results showed that the RP-HPLC fingerprints and principal component analysis (PCA) method can effectively differentiate the infant formula of different brands, as well as the different series of infant formulas of the same brand, which provide an effective testing method for authenticity identification and brand protection in infant formulas.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Government of PR China (No. 2012BAD12B07), and Science and Technology Department of Shaanxi Province (No. 2011K01-04) for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Peipei Gao, Bo Shi, Zhicheng Li & Chengcheng Yin

  2. Xi’an Yinqiao Dairy (Group) Co., Ltd., Xi’an, 710600, People’s Republic of China

    Ping Wang

  3. Department of Foreign Languages, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Yanjun Yin

  4. College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Linsen Zan

Authors
  1. Peipei Gao
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  2. Bo Shi
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  3. Zhicheng Li
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  4. Ping Wang
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  5. Chengcheng Yin
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  6. Yanjun Yin
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  7. Linsen Zan
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Correspondence to Zhicheng Li.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012BAD12B07) and Science and Technology Department of Shaanxi Province of China (2011K01-04).

Conflict of Interest

Peipei Gao declares that she has no conflict of interest. Bo Shi declares that he has no conflict of interest. Zhicheng Li declares that he has no conflict of interest. Ping Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Chengcheng Yin declares that he has no conflict of interest. Yanjun Yin declares that he has no conflict of interest. Linsen Zan declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Gao, P., Shi, B., Li, Z. et al. Establishment and Application of Infant Formula Fingerprints by RP-HPLC. Food Anal. Methods 11, 23–33 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-017-0956-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-017-0956-5

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