doiSerbia

Determination of tropane alkaloids in corn puffs by the LC-MS/MS

Stojanović Tijana N. (University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture Department of Plant and Environmental Protection, Novi Sad, Serbia)
Vuković Gorica Lj. (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia), goricavukovic@yahoo.com
Petrović Aleksandra P. (University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture Department of Plant and Environmental Protection, Novi Sad, Serbia)
Konstantinović Bojan B. (University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture Department of Plant and Environmental Protection, Novi Sad, Serbia)
Puvača Nikola M. (University Business Academy in Novi Sad Faculty of Economics and Engineering Management in Novi Sad Department of Engineering Management in Biotechnology, Novi Sad, Serbia)
Marinković Dušan S. (University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture Department of Plant and Environmental Protection, Novi Sad, Serbia)
Gvozdenac Sonja M. (Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Department of Agronomy, Novi Sad, Serbia)
Bursić Vojislava P. (University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture Department of Plant and Environmental Protection, Novi Sad, Serbia)

The interest in tropane alkaloids (TA) as food contaminants is increasing. A sensitive and selective LC-MS/MS method was applied for the analysis of corn puff samples from the Serbian market. Only atropine was quantified in 22% of the samples. In case of scopolamine, although not quantified, it was detected in 22% of the samples. Whether the acute reference dose (ARfD) could be exceeded was checked on a case-by-case basis for the individual products under assessment. Due to their low body weight and relatively high snack consumption, preschool children were at the highest risk of TA exposure. Assuming that the average consumption is 50 g of corn puffs per day, the sample with the highest concentration of TAs (2.05 μg/kg, 1.58 μg/kg of atropine) could contribute with 32.0% to the ARfD, of which 24.7% owing to atropine. If the same amount of corn puffs is consumed by older age classes, corresponding exposure contributions to the ARfD would progressively decline, down to 8.4% for adult population. The study revealed no health risk from TAs exposure through the consumption of the corn puffs in Serbian population.

Keywords: atropine, corn, food analysis, risk assessment, scopolamine