This document specifies a method for the quantitative determination of β-carotene and lycopene in infant formula and adult nutritionals in solid (i.e. powders) or liquid (i.e. ready-to-feed liquids and liquid concentrates) forms using reversed-phase ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-UHPLC) and UV-visible detection. The application range runs from 1 μg/100 g to 1 500 μg/100 g for lycopene and from 1 μg/100 g to 2 250 μg/100 g for β-carotene. Based on the single-laboratory validation, the limit of detection (LOD) was 0,1 μg/100 g and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0,3 μg/100 g for each carotenoid.

The method does not apply to materials that contain measurable levels of β-apo-8′-carotenal. The reproducibility data meets the requirements given in References [8] and [10].

Annex C specifies the determination of lutein. The reproducibility data does not meet the requirements given in Reference [9].