Monitoring of Mineral Oil in Food
New EU Guidance Document Regarding the Analysis and Reporting of MOSH and MOAH: Eurofins Fulfills All Requirements
Apr 2019. In February 2019, the EU Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a "Guidance on sampling, analysis and data reporting for the monitoring of mineral oil hydrocarbons in food and food contact materials".
In 2017 already, the EU called for data collection with its Recommendation (EU) 2017/84 on the monitoring of mineral oil hydrocarbons in food and food contact materials. The guideline now published, lays down requirements for the collection of reliable data.
Requirements for Analysis and Reporting of Mineral Oil
The guideline defines minimum performance criteria for the analysis of MOSH (mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons) and MOAH (mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons). In particular, certain sub-fractions of MOSH and MOAH based on hydrocarbon chain length are defined for evaluation and reporting.
Requirements for Sampling
The guideline describes a number of preventive measures to avoid contamination of samples with mineral oil during sampling or by the packaging material used. It also defines information to be documented with the sample, its origin and the sampling procedure. Furthermore data are given on the sampling procedure, such as the number of incremental samples and sample amount.
Implementation of the Guideline at Eurofins
The Eurofins experts from the Competence Centre for Organic Contaminants at Eurofins WEJ Contaminants have long-term experience with the analysis, evaluation and assessment of mineral oil hydrocarbons in various food matrices by means of online-LC-GC-FID. The applied method complies with the requirements of the European guideline.
In addition to online-LC-GC-FID analysis of mineral oils in food, Eurofins also offers mass spectrometric characterization of mineral oil contaminations to provide customers with additional support in identifying potential sources of contamination.
Any Questions Left?
Do you have any questions concerning the analysis of mineral oils? Visit our webpage Analysis of Mineral Oils (MOSH/POSH/MOAH) oder contact our expert!
