Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for the determination of 16 European priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in smoked meat products and edible oils.

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed for the analysis of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) highlighted as carcinogenic by the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) plus benzo[c]fluorine (recommended to be analysed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in fat-containing foods such as edible oils and smoked meat products. This method includes accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and the highly automated clean-up steps gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and solid-phase extraction (SPE). Using a VF-17ms GC column, a good separation of benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[j]fluoranthene and benzo[k]fluoranthene was achieved.

Fast-GC/HRMS to quantify the EU priority PAH.

For the analysis of the 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) classified as priority from the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and benzo[c]fluorene (BcL) assessed to be relevant by the Joint FAO/WHO Experts Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in food, a sensitive analytical method is necessary. In the past, many methods were established for only the analysis of the 16 priority PAH recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (16 EPA-PAH) but not for the 15 SCF-PAH and BcL. Therefore, at the Max-Rubner-Institut, Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food in Kulmbach, Germany, an analytical method with a runtime of 72 min was developed.