RAFA 2021: Analysis of Ethylene Oxide and 2-Chloroethanol Residues in Sesame and other food commodities by GCMS/MS

The unauthorized presence of ethylene oxide (ETO) and 2-chloroethanol (2CE) in food is a new emerging food safety issue. To ensure that foods are safe for consumption, food industry and enforcement agencies need reliable and robust methods.

For their determination a combination of a QuEChERS sample preparation method and a GC-MS/MS analytical method was proposed by the EU Reference Laboratories for Residues of Pesticides. However, several challenges are encountered when it comes to the analysis of ETO and 2CE. QuEChERS extracts often contain high amounts of non-volatile material which can accumulate in the inlet liner and column, affecting the accuracy and robustness of the analysis.

Integration of the Automated Liner Exchange (ALEX) option and pre-column backflush allows to perform analysis of ETO and 2CE with minimal downtime related to inlet maintenance, frequent analytical column exchange or source maintenance.

Presenter: Tatiana Cucu Ph.D (Senior Scientist/Project Manager, Research Institute for Chromatography (RIC Group), Kortrijk, Belgium)