Objective  To develop a method for the determination of arsenic species in cereal-based complementary food for infants and young children (infant cereals) and to examine the form and content of arsenic in infant cereals.

  Methods  Thearsenic species in infant cereals were analyzed by establishing a method of high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS).

  Results  The established method for arsenic species analysis is of good linearity for the concentration range of 0 – 100.0 μg/L, with a mean recovery of 83.9 % – 94.4 % and a relative standard deviation of less than 5 %. The main forms of arsenic species in the infant cereal samples detected were inorganic arsenic and dimethylarsonate. For the samples, the detection rate of inorganic arsenic is 90 % and the content of inorganic arsenic is positively correlated with that of total arsenic (r = 0.636, P < 0.001). No infant cereal sample with inorganic arsenic exceeding national standard was detected.

  Conclusion  The established HPLC-ICP-MS method is simple and accurate for the detection of arsemic species in infant cereals and could be applied in monitoring practice.