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Optimized Analysis of MCPD‐ and Glycidyl Esters in Edible Oils and Fats Using Fast Alkaline Transesterification and 13 C‐Correction for Glycidol Overestimation: Validation Including Interlaboratory Comparison
Author(s) -
Zwagerman Ralph,
Overman Pierre
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of lipid science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.614
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1438-9312
pISSN - 1438-7697
DOI - 10.1002/ejlt.201800395
Subject(s) - european union , glycidol , vegetable oil , environmental science , transesterification , legislation , pulp and paper industry , edible oil , computer science , process engineering , food science , chemistry , business , engineering , political science , law , economic policy , catalysis , biochemistry
As of March 2018, legislation has come into force within the European Union (EU) that places maximum levels on the glycidyl ester (GE) content of vegetable oils intended for use in foodstuffs for the European market. As a result, producers of edible oils are obliged to closely monitor the GE levels in all their products. Unfortunately, the three available AOCS methods to measure GE are not really suited for application in a quality control (QC) laboratory within a production facility, where short turnaround times are vital. AOCS Cd29c‐13 has the highest potential from a turnaround perspective, but remains disputable because it is based on a differential GE measurement. Hence, in 2016 the authors published an automated procedure in which the shortcomings of the AOCS Cd29c‐13 are effectively addressed. This article presents the results of an interlaboratory comparison, which is organised across six laboratories in four countries. Methods involved include AOCS Cd29b‐13 as well as an optimized version of the 2016 method, which is carried out both automatically and manually. Prior to validation, several optimizations are implemented to further reduce turnaround time and improve robustness of the original method. Based on the results of the interlaboratory comparison, it is concluded that the automated procedure performs slightly better than the manual alternative. Compared to the AOCS Cd29b‐13, no significant differences are observed for various types and blends of vegetable oils. Practical Application : Because the EU has recently enforced its legislation for maximum GE levels in edible oils, QC laboratories across the EU are looking for methods which are easily implemented. In practice, this implies high quality, low costs and high sample capacity. Food safety demands fast and reliable analysis in order to verify the quality of refined edible oils and fats. Due to the toxicological relevance of these process contaminants, turnaround time is a crucial performance parameter and any possibility of reducing analysis time has to be fully exploited. The method presented here, provides the short turnaround times required for these purposes and is validated by interlaboratory comparison. This is crucial in the coming years when new EU legislation as well as efforts by food companies will continue to push the continuation of mitigation efforts by edible oil producers. Graphical overview of serial versus parallel preparation of seven authentic samples and the profound effect on the total sample preparation time required for the analysis of MCPDe and GE in edible oils.