Abstract
A method was developed for the determination of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) in edible oils, achieving similar limits of quantification than those obtained by online extraction methodologies, i.e., 0.5 mg/kg. The isolation of MOSH and MOAH was performed in a silver nitrated silica gel stationary phase prior to their analysis by gas chromatography–flame ionization detector (GC-FID). To improve the sensitivity, the simulated on-column injection method, using a suitable liner, was optimized. The method was validated at 0.5, 10.0 and 17.9 mg/kg, and recoveries ranged from 80 to 110%. Intra and inter-day precision were evaluated at the same levels, and relative standard deviation (RSD) was lower than 20%. The method was applied to a total of 27 samples of different types of oil previously analyzed in an accredited laboratory, detecting MOSH up to 79.2 mg/kg and MOAH up to 22.4 mg/kg.
Highlights
Mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) are products obtained from the distillation of petroleum and are mainly composed of hydrocarbons, but they are synthetically produced from coal, natural gas and biomass [1]
These MOH can usually contaminate food in many different ways, by contact with materials that have mineral oils, such as paperboard or inks, mineral oils used in machinery that are utilized during the oil manufacturing process, or even food additives [2]
1% of silver nitrate was added to the silica gel due to it is believed that the silver nitrate remained in a crystalline form, filling the pores of the silica gel; the olefins and triglycerides are better retained in the offline column chromatography [15]
Summary
Mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) are products obtained from the distillation of petroleum and are mainly composed of hydrocarbons, but they are synthetically produced from coal, natural gas and biomass [1]. These MOH can usually contaminate food in many different ways, by contact with materials that have mineral oils, such as paperboard or inks, mineral oils used in machinery that are utilized during the oil manufacturing process, or even food additives [2]. Lubricating oils for food use are a complex mixture of these aliphatic saturated hydrocarbons and linear or branched ones (paraffin), ranging from C20 to C54 [3]. MOH can be either mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH), which accumulate in tissues, lymph nodes, spleen and liver, and can cause microgranulomas [2], or mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH), which are considered as possible carcinogenic and mutagenic substances [5]
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