Abstract: An ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method has been developed for the rapid screening of 45 industrial dyes residues in foods. Samples were extracted by solvent extraction and cleaned up before chromatographic separation on a BEH C18 column using a mobile phase consisting of water and acetonitrile by gradient elution. The dyes were analyzed by GC-MS/MS in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and quantified by the external standard method. The limits of detection for the dyes varied from 0.1 to 100μg/kg. The average recoveries across high, medium and low spike levels were between 61.51% and 109.64% with a relative standard deviation (RSD) in the range of 5.23%－9.76%. The method was simple, rapid, sensitive, accurate and suitable for use in the rapid screening of industrial dyes residues in foods.

Key words: industrial dyes, ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), foods, screening