Application of Pyrolysis-GC/MS to Food Contamination Analysis

Introduction

In recent years, cases of food contamination by foreign matter have increased, heightening the necessity of contamination analysis by food manufacturers. The Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescent spectrometer (EDX) are used in identification of contaminants by instrumental analysis. The pyrolysis-GC/MS method and thermal extraction-GC/MS method are employed in contamination analysis by GC/MS, and enable qualitative analysis of resin materials and additives contained in trace organic contaminants. This article introduces the results of an analysis of the resins in a food packaging material using the pyrolysisGC/MS method, assuming food contamination. A Shimadzu OPTIC-4 multimode inlet for GC/MS was used in the analysis by pyrolysis-GC/MS. Because the OPTIC-4 enables high-speed heating (60 °C/s) to a maximum temperature of 600 °C, diverse sample injection modes are available and simple pyrolysis is possible.

March 31, 2020 GMT