Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in edible vegetable oils by liquid chromatography and programmed fluorescence detection Comparison of caffeine complexation and XAD-2 chromatography sample clean-up

Two clean-up procedures were compared for the analysis for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in edible vegetable oils. One method comprises a liquid-liquid extraction followed by XAD-2 chromatography and the other a caffeine-formic acid complexation. The clean-up step is followed by gradient reversed-phase HPLC in combination with wavelength-programmed fluorescence detection. Due to better repeatability and simplicity, the XAD-2 method was selected for the determination of PAHs in 14 different vegetable oils. Between the different oil samples large differences were observed in PAH concentrations. PAH concentrations in vegetable oils sampled from the Dutch market appear to be comparable with those found in other countries.