[Quantitation of cow's milk allergen in hypoallergenic infant formulas using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography- tandem mass spectrometry].

Cow's milk protein allergy （CMPA） has become a common public health concern and hypoallergenic formula （partially or extensively hydrolyzed formula） is considered as an alternative during infancy. Alcalase and papain are widely used in industrial production of hydrolysates， as they can modify or destroy the linear and conformational epitopes of cow's milk allergens （CMAs）， thus leading to decreased allergenicity. However， despite considerable emphasis has been laid on the manufacturing technique and nutritional value of hypoallergenic formulas， whether there are traces of CMAs in hypoallergenic formulas， remains unknown. Consequently， the need for a quantitative method of detecting multiple CMAs at a time is rising. Traditionally， enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）-based methods have proved to be advantageous with a wide availability of commercial kits for CMAs detection. Moreover， polymerase chain reaction （PCR）， as one of DNA-based methods， has shown exceptional specificity and high sensitivity. However， they both may encounter false-positive results and high-throughput detection is challenging. In the past two decades， mass spectrometry （MS）-based proteomic technology has advanced， including improvements in computational capability， algorithm model， as well as mass spectrometric platforms. MS is gaining more and more attention in the field of food allergen detection， allowing multiplex allergen detection with high sensitivity， accuracy and selectivity in a single run. In this study， an analytical method was developed for the simultaneous quantitation of six CMAss （namely，