Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of organic compounds produce through incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organic matter. The occurrence of PAHs in food is due to environmental contamination, poor technological processing and from contaminated packaging material. Since they have been proven to present carcinogenic and genotoxic effect, the rapid and reliable determination of these compounds in food is very important. In particular, due to the lipophilic nature of such compounds, fats and oils can be highly contaminated. In 2005 the European Commission fixed a limit for only the benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), but more recently an Opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has suggest to consider the sum of 4 PAHs (BaP, chrysene, benzo(a)anthracene, and benzo(b)fluoranthene). The aim of the present work is to optimize and validate a rapid method for determination of PAHs in edible oil by using direct-immersion solid-phase microextraction (SPME) followed by gas chromatography (GC) coupled with a mass spectrometer (MS). The method was validated in terms of repeatability, accuracy, limit of detection, and limit of quantification for benzo(a)pyrene using a GC/MS approach, but it can also successfully apply for determination of the 15+1 European PAHs using a multidimensional comprehensive technique coupled with a time-of-flight (ToF) MS. In both cases the results were within the characteristics established by the UE Regulation. Furthermore, the solvent volume and other discharged matter, such as plastic cartridges were reduce to minimum, thus resulting environmental friendly.
Rapid determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by SPME-GC/MS or SPME-GCxGC/MS in edible oil
PURCARO, Giorgia;MORET, Sabrina;CONTE, Lanfranco
2011-01-01
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of organic compounds produce through incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organic matter. The occurrence of PAHs in food is due to environmental contamination, poor technological processing and from contaminated packaging material. Since they have been proven to present carcinogenic and genotoxic effect, the rapid and reliable determination of these compounds in food is very important. In particular, due to the lipophilic nature of such compounds, fats and oils can be highly contaminated. In 2005 the European Commission fixed a limit for only the benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), but more recently an Opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has suggest to consider the sum of 4 PAHs (BaP, chrysene, benzo(a)anthracene, and benzo(b)fluoranthene). The aim of the present work is to optimize and validate a rapid method for determination of PAHs in edible oil by using direct-immersion solid-phase microextraction (SPME) followed by gas chromatography (GC) coupled with a mass spectrometer (MS). The method was validated in terms of repeatability, accuracy, limit of detection, and limit of quantification for benzo(a)pyrene using a GC/MS approach, but it can also successfully apply for determination of the 15+1 European PAHs using a multidimensional comprehensive technique coupled with a time-of-flight (ToF) MS. In both cases the results were within the characteristics established by the UE Regulation. Furthermore, the solvent volume and other discharged matter, such as plastic cartridges were reduce to minimum, thus resulting environmental friendly.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.