Monitoring of glycidyl fatty acid esters in refined vegetable oils from retail outlets by LC-MS

Glycidyl fatty acid esters (GEs) are a newly identified class of food process contaminants. The main source of these compounds is refined oils. Because of the potential release of free glycidol, it is necessary to enable a more accurate exposure assessment. In this study a method based on liquid chromatography-single-quadrupole mass spectrometry was used for the analysis of GEs in refined vegetable oils from retail outlets in Poland.The amount of GEs detected in 20 edible oils ranged from 0.00 to 44.33 mg kg(-1) . Refined palm oils exhibited a several times higher contamination ratio in comparison with other oils (average 31.24 mg kg(-1) ). The average content of esters in sunflower oils (2.46 mg kg(-1) ) was higher than in rapeseed oils (1.04 mg kg(-1) ). C18:2-GE was found to be the prevailing GE in sunflower oil, with the highest concentration in all studied samples, while C18:1-GE was the prevailing GE in rapeseed and palm oils. No trace of C18:3-GE was found in the analysed oils.The concentrations of major GEs were correlated with the fatty acid composition of the oils. The GE content varied with the type of oil and the producer. The tested oils had a higher or similar GE content compared with those analysed by other researchers. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.