Rapid Identification of Cosmetic Packaging Materials Based on Laser Ablation Carbon Fiber Ionization Mass Spectrometry

The rapid rise of counterfeit high-quality cosmetic packaging has become a major challenge for regulatory authorities, manufacturers, and forensic identification agencies. Traditional identification strategies—such as visual inspection, print quality assessment, or chromatographic and spectroscopic analysis—have become increasingly ineffective against counterfeit packaging materials that closely mimic the appearance and structural design of genuine products. In this study, a method based on laser ablation carbon fiber ionization mass spectrometry (LACFI-MS) was proposed for the authenticity identification of cosmetic packaging, without the need for sample pretreatment. The cosmetic packaging sample was placed directly on an x-y moving platform without any preprocessing. The laser working voltage was adjusted through a transformer to accurately locate the area to be tested (including various color areas such as deep blue, gold, gray, etc.) at low energy, and then the voltage was increased to the operating conditions for laser ablation, desorbing components from the packaging surface. The desorbed components were ionized by a charged carbon fiber tip (applying high voltage) in air, assisted by a continuous flow of methanol-water solvent (1:1, V/V) at a flow rate of 2 μL/min, combined with mass spectrometric detection, allowing the acquisition of the chemical fingerprint profiles of different colored regions of cosmetic packaging such as concealer and cleansing foam. Experimental results indicated that genuine packaging has stable and repeatable characteristic mass spectral peaks (such as m/z 320, 412, 264, etc.) across different batches, while counterfeits showed chaotic signals with significant differences in characteristic peaks. In contrast, the spectral patterns of counterfeit samples show significant heterogeneity and are generally chaotic, characterized by highly fluctuating peak distributions and a large number of irreproducible ion peaks. This variability suggests inconsistent raw material sources, weak formula control, and low production standards. Notably, some counterfeit samples share specific ion clusters (e.g., m/z 342, 347, 663, 680), indicating that they may originate from common suppliers or related counterfeiting networks. This demonstrated that LACFI-MS is not only suitable for authenticity identification but also has the potential to trace the origins and circulation routes of counterfeit packaging in illegal supply chains. The study verified the structures of key diagnostic peaks through surface tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), confirming the reliability of the assigned chemical structures for the characteristic peaks. Comparative analysis with the literature indicated that the numerous unique differential ions in the counterfeit samples may originate from low-quality photoinitiators, plasticizers, fatty amide lubricants, or low-cost ink/coating additives—substances often associated with nonstandard production processes. These findings further demonstrate the potential safety risks and compositional instability of counterfeit packaging materials. Overall, the LACFI-MS combines multiple advantages, such as rapid analysis, ease of operation, no need for sample pretreatment, high sensitivity, and excellent capability to distinguish subtle chemical differences. This technique not only efficiently and accurately distinguishes between genuine and counterfeit products but also has the potential to trace the source of counterfeiting, thereby providing strong technical support for the regulation of the cosmetics market.