Extraction and identification of cyclobutanones from irradiated cheese employing a rapid direct solvent extraction method

Abstract

2-Alkylcyclobutanones (cyclobutanones) are accepted as chemical markers for irradiated foods containing lipid. However, current extraction procedures (Soxhlet–florisil chromatography) for the isolation of these markers involve a long and tedious clean-up regime prior to gas chromatography–mass spectrophotometry identification. This paper outlines an alternative isolation and clean-up method for the extraction of cyclobutanones in irradiated Camembert cheese. The newly developed direct solvent extraction method enables the efficient screening of large numbers of food samples and is not as resource intensive as the BS EN 1785:1997 method. Direct solvent extraction appears to be a simple, robust method and has the added advantage of a considerably shorter extraction time for the analysis of foods containing lipid.