Abstract: This study aimed to establish a method for the determination of added carrageenan in livestock meat by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Carrageenan in fresh meat was digested with 1 mol/L hydrochloric acid, yielding characteristic oligosaccharide fragments such as [A-G4S]-, which were detected by HPLC-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. A high resolution mass spectrometer was employed for validation of the method. The results showed that no false positive results were found for natural meat samples, while positive samples such as steak labelled to contain carrageenan were identified effectively by the proposed method. The limit of detection (LOD) of carrageenan was 20 mg/kg (at m/z 403 > 241). A good linear relationship was observed in the concentration range of 0.1–0.4 g/kg with correlation coefficients of more than 0.99. The relative recoveries were in the range of 90%–120%. In summary, this method, thanks to its simplicity, clear target and high sensitivity, could be used as an effective means to detect carrageenan-injected livestock meat.

Key words: gum-injected meat, carrageenan, oligosaccharide, high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), food safety