A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed for the analysis of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) highlighted as carcinogenic by the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) plus benzo[c]fluorine (recommended to be analysed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in fat-containing foods such as edible oils and smoked meat products. This method includes accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and the highly automated clean-up steps gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and solid-phase extraction (SPE). Using a VF-17ms GC column, a good separation of benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[j]fluoranthene and benzo[k]fluoranthene was achieved. Futhermore, the six methylchrysene isomers and the PAH compounds with a molecular weight of 302 Daltons in fat-containing foods attained a better chromatographic separation in comparison with a 5-ms column. The reliability of the analytical method for edible oils was demonstrated by the results from a proficiency test. Measurements with GC-high-resolution mass spectroscopy (HRMS) and gas chromatography-mass selective detection (GC-MSD) led to comparable results. A survey of the 16 PAHs in 22 smoked meat products showed concentrations in the range < 0.01-19 microg kg(-1). The median concentration for benzo[a]pyrene was below 0.15 microg kg(-1).

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Benzo[a]anthracene (BaA), chrysene (CHR), cyclopenta[c,d]pyrene (CPP), 5-methylchrysene (5MC), benzo[b]flu-

For the analysis of the 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) classified as priority from the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and benzo[c]fluorene (BcL) assessed to be relevant by the Joint FAO/WHO Experts Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in food, a sensitive analytical method is necessary. In the past, many methods were established for only the analysis of the 16 priority PAH recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (16 EPA-PAH) but not for the 15 SCF-PAH and BcL. Therefore, at the Max-Rubner-Institut, Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food in Kulmbach, Germany, an analytical method with a runtime of 72 min was developed. To shorten this runtime without a loss of separation, a Fast-GC/high resolution MS (HRMS) method with a runtime of only 25 min using a TR-50ms column (10 m x 0.1 mm x 0.1 microm) was created. The repeatability (n = 3) of spiked PAH concentrations in test-matrix tea ranged from 0.1 to 11%. The analytical parameters LOD (0.01-0.02 microg/kg) and LOQ (0.03-0.06 microg/kg) also in the test-matrix tea were determined. A good linearity for all PAH (R(2) >0.99) and averaged recoveries from 75 to 117% in the concentration range of 1-20 microg/kg were achieved.