Contamination of food by mineral oil hydrocarbons such as mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) has been a growing concern since 2012, when the European Food Safety Authority flagged them as a potential health concern. While the main concerns are bioaccumulation from MOSH and the carcinogenicity of MOAH, data on consumer exposure is incomplete. Prevailing wisdom suggests we make every effort to minimize MOSH/MOAH contamination, however, MOSH/MOAH analysis is not easy. Though there is a standard European GC-FID method, countries are still discussing GC-MS standard methods for MOSH/MOAH analysis. The existing methods struggle to deconvolute the various hydrocarbons.
Enter the LECO Pegasus® BT 4D with GCxGC-TOFMS.
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