In recent years, health authorities have become increasingly concerned about preventing consumer exposure to opium alkaloids present in Papaver somniferum L. poppy seeds. In this study, a simple, rapid and efficient method has been optimised to determine all main opioids in poppy seeds (morphine, codeine, thebaine, papaverine, noscapine and oripavine) by UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS. For this purpose, solid-liquid extraction (SLE) of samples was optimised and six magnetic adsorbent materials with a core of Fe3O4 coated with amorphous and mesostructured silica, both functionalised with octadecyl-silane or octyl-silane were characterised and evaluated for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). The material with the best results was non-functionalised mesostructured silica and, with it, the MSPE procedure was optimised. This method was validated and used to quantify six opioids in 14 edible seed samples (eleven poppy seeds and three seed mixes). Considerable amounts were found (1.5-249.0 mg/kg morphine, <0.2 µg/kg-45.8 mg/kg codeine, <2.4 µg/kg-136.2 mg/kg thebaine, <0.2 µg/kg-27.1 mg/kg papaverine, <0.2 µg/kg-108.7 mg/kg noscapine and <240 µg/kg-33.4 mg/kg oripavine), exceeding maximum limits established in some EU countries and the reference level of morphine in the EU. Furthermore, in some commercial samples for human consumption, inadequate labelling was found because significant amounts of alkaloids were detected even though Papaver rhoeas L. seeds were declared on the product label.
Keywords: Papaver somniferum; liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; magnetic solid-phase extraction; mesostructured silica; opium alkaloids; poppy seeds.