Known for its effectiveness in weight loss and diabetes prevention, Gymnema sylvestre products can be found in the US, Japanese, and Indian markets. However, the recommended dosage or safety of these products has not yet been proven. Therefore, development of an analytical method for detecting the content of Gymnema sylvestre in food products is required. Accordingly, this study proposes an analysis method that can examine Gymnema sylvestre in food using LC-ESI-MS/MS and KASP (Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR) markers. In LC-ESI-MS/MS, a simultaneous analysis method for gymnemic acid and deacylgymnemic acid was optimized using negative ionization mode, and its validation test was completed for solid and liquid samples. In addition, KASP markers were prepared by finding the specific SNP of G. sylvestre in ITS2 and matK through DNA barcodes. The two KASP markers returned positive FAM fluorescence result when combined with G. sylvestre, and this aspect was confirmed in raw G. sylvestre as well. The applicability of the method was tested on 21 different food and healthy functional products containing G. sylvestre purchased on the internet. As a result, although there was a difference in the ratios of gymnemic acid and deacylgymnemic acid in LC-ESI-MS/MS, the index component was detected in all 21 products samples. In the KASP analysis, 9 products returned positive FAM result, and the rest of the products were found to be containing G. sylvestre extract. This study is the first study to use the dual system of LC-ESI-MS/MS and KASP for the analysis of G. sylvestre. The study has confirmed that these two methods are applicable to the examine G. sylvestre content in food products.

Melamine has raised international concerns for its catastrophic health effects from tainted infant formula. This report concerns the developmental validation of a sensitive HPLC/MS/MS and GC/MS methods about melamine and cyanuric acid in human urine and serum. Analytical detection ranges of LC/MS was from 0.2 to 5.0 ng/mL and 2.0 to 60.0 ng/mL about melamine and cyanuric acid, respectively. The limits of quantification and confirmation are 0.2 ng/mL for both analytes in human urine and serum by LC/MS/MS. The range of recovery was 91.6%, and 107.6% for cyanuric acid and melamine in urine, respectively. The range of precision coefficient variation was from 2.0%, to 11.8% for cyanuric acid and melamine in urine. The range of recovery was from 94.9%, to 119.0% about cyanuric acid and melamine in serum, respectively. The range of precision coefficient variation from was 3.7%, and 13.5% about cyanuric acid and melamine in serum. Analytical detection ranges of GC/MS were 5.0 to 100.0 ng/mL about melamine and cyanuric acid, respectively. The limits of quantification and confirmation are 5.0 ng/mL for both analytes in human urine and serum by GC/MS. The range of recovery was from 83.7%, to 114.5% for cyanuric acid and melamine in urine, respectively. The range of precision coefficient variation was 3.5%, and 10.7% for cyanuric acid and melamine in urine. The range of recovery was 94.4%, and 110.7% for cyanuric acid and melamine in serum,respectively. The range of precision coefficient variation from was 3.9%, and 13.8% for cyanuric acid and melamine in serum. Several changes were taken to optimize performance by this method.