Abstract Background Natamycin is a naturally occurring antimycotic used to prevent mold in a variety of foodstuffs, mainly processed meat, cheese and wine, and more recently certain fresh fruits. Objective The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a sensitive and selective method for the quantification of natamycin residues in blueberries. Method A methanolic extraction followed by solid phase extraction clean up and analysis by liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution tandem mass spectrometry validated for the analysis of natamycin residues in blueberries following the SANTE guidelines. Results The method was validated at 0.025, 0.25 and 11 mg/kg with average recoveries between 86 and 105%, and precision (%RSD) was below 15%. The detection limit for natamycin was below 0.010 mg/kg. Residues of natamycin in treated blueberries were found to range from 1 to 29 mg/kg and remained stable over 4 weeks of storage at 4 °C. Conclusions The LC-HRMS analysis reported here is shown to be an accurate and sensitive method for quantifying natamycin residues in blueberries. Highlights A method suitable for use in the regulatory and commercial monitoring of natamycin residues in blueberries is developed and presented.
Hall et al. (Sat,) studied this question.