Analysis of MOSH and MOAH using SPEprior to GCxGC-MS analysis

The present work is focused on the development/optimization of a comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography method, with dual detection [flame ionization (FID) and mass spectrometric], for the simultaneous identification and quantification of mineral-oil contaminants in a variety of food products. The two main classes of contaminants, namely saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons, were previously fractionated on a manually-packed silver silica solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. The presence of a series of unknown compounds was investigated using the mass spectrometric data, and were tentatively-identified as esterified fatty acids, most probably derived from vegetable oil based ink.