A proton nuclear magnetic resonance(1H NMR) combined with 1D total correlation spectroscopy(1D TOCSY) and quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(qNMR) was developed for detection and quantitation of 1,2-propanediol in liquid milk.The proton signals of methyl of 1,2-propanediol(1H NMR) and the methylene and methyne of this molecule(1D-TOCSY) were used for rapid screening and precise detection of 1,2-propanediol in liquid milk,respectively.Meanwhile,the content of 1,2-propanediol in liquid milk was detected by the qNMR method,with the signal of 1,2-propanediol at δ 1.15 as quantitative peak and 2,2,3,3-D4-3-(trimethylsilyl) propionic acid sodium salt(TMSP) at δ 0.00 as internal standard peak.The detection limit and quantitation limit of the method were 0.002 mg/mL and 0.006 mg/mL,respectively.Comparison of this NMR and gas chromatography method revealed that they were equal within experimental error.Furthermore,the NMR method was simple in operation and had the high specificity,which not only improved the detection efficiency,but also avoided false positive results.It was suitable for batch and rapid detection of 1,2-propanediol in liquid milk.