Qualitative analysis of flavors and fragrances added to tea by using GC-MS.

A precise identification method was developed to identify the flavors and fragrances added to tea matrix artificially using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and gas chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The proposed method was based on the corresponding "three-column retention indices, two exact mass numbers, one mass spectrum matching degree" database of 40 kinds of common flavors and fragrances. The intraday and the interday relative standard deviation of the retention indices were less than 0.048 and 0.093%, respectively. The accuracy of exact mass was between 0.15 and 6.22 ppm. And the validation of the created database was performed by analyzing the tea samples. Thus, the proposed method is suitable for the precise identification of the flavors and fragrances added to tea matrix artificially without standard substances as a reference.