Quantification of staphylococcal enterotoxin type A in cow milk by using a stable isotope-labelled peptide via liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

ABSTRACT

In this study, the staphylococcal enterotoxin type A (SEA) contaminant was quantified in cow milk by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) with the use of a stable isotope-labelled peptide of SEA as an internal standard. SEA was cleaned up in a two-step process that included pH control and trichloroacetic acid (TCA) precipitation. The pH control phase eliminated other proteins. TCA precipitation cleaned up SEA without special equipment. An appropriate enzyme-to-protein ratio maximised tryptic digestion. A desalting process guaranteed the stable retention of SEA-digested peptides. The coverage of amino-acid sequences (>10%) clearly identified the toxin’s presence. SEA was accurately quantified using LC-MS/MS based on a multiple-reaction monitoring mode. The developed method was validated based on spiked recovery tests at 50 and 100 µg kg⁻¹ conducted with two samples collected on a daily basis for five days based on Japanese validation guidelines. The new method exhibited good accuracy which ranged from 80% to 82%. The relative standard deviations of repeatability were 13–14% and the relative standard deviations of within-laboratory reproducibility were 13–18%. These standard deviations satisfied the criteria of the Japanese validation guidelines. The quantification limit was estimated to be 10 µg kg⁻¹.

KEYWORDS:

• Cow milk
• liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry
• method validation
• stable isotope-labelled peptide
• staphylococcal enterotoxin type A

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.