determination of fat-soluble vitamins a, d3, and e in infant formula and milk powder using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection: jordan market as a case study

A new, simple, rapid, and sensitive reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array (hplc-pda) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous analysis of fat-soluble vitamins a, d3, and e. the method required a simple sample preparation step of saponification with aqueous koh and extraction with n-hexane. the method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, stability, detection limits, and recovery. the method has the advantage of simultaneous determination of vitamins a, d3, and e in a short run time of 10 min. the method was applied successfully for the determination of vitamins a, d3, and e in some infant formula and milk powder from the jordanian market. based on this study, vitamin content in all brands was within 90.0-410% of the labeled value. vitamin d3 content in the studied brands was within 100.0-850%, while vitamin e content in all brands was less than 48%. the results showed large variation and discrepancy of most vitamins’ contents, which were not in good agreement with the manufacturer label value, though they were below toxic levels.