Validation of an alternative method for the identification of 2‐dodecylcyclebutanone (2‐ DCB ) of irradiated meats by solid‐phase microextraction ( SPME ) gas chromatography–mass spectrometry ( GC ‐ MS )

Summary A rapid and simple procedure to detect irradiated food containing fat is proposed. This method is based on HS ‐ SPME coupled with GC ‐ MS to determine the presence of a radiolytic product in irradiated meats: 2‐dodecylcyclobutanone (2‐ DCB ) and is proposed as an alternative to EN 1785:2003, which is a long and complex procedure. The qualitative confirmation method is validated on different type of meats: chicken, turkey, duck, beef, pork on both nonirradiated and irradiated samples at different dose levels (0.05, 0.12, 0.5, 1.0 and 3.0 kG y) with a biological X‐ray irradiator. The validation parameters investigated are selectivity, minimum dose level ( MDL ), limit of detection ( LOD ), sensitivity and specificity. The MDL and LOD values were 0.5 kG y and 5.0 ng mL −1 , respectively, for all matrices. No false positives or false negatives occurred, and 100% of samples were correctly identified. The results show that HS ‐ SPME GC ‐ MS is suitable for routine analysis.