DETERMINATION OF GLUTEN BY UHPLC-MS/MS BASED ON SUMMATION OF PEPTIDE MARKERS TO ACCOUNT FOR GENETIC VARIABILITY

A method for determining gluten in commercial food products using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry has been developed. The key feature of the method is the minimization of the influence of variations in the content and composition of gluten proteins on the quantitative analysis results, achieved by summing the responses of several marker peptides. The results showed that the total limit of detection of the developed method is 10 mg/kg gluten proteins in food products. It was established that increasing the number of marker peptides used enhances the reliability of the method when analyzing food products with different compositions of gluten proteins. This approach allows improving the accuracy of gluten content control, which is important for products labeled as "gluten-free."