_Extraction of Ethylene oxide and 2-Chloroethanol from alternate matrices LinkedIn.pdf

How do you know your food is safe?

Last Friday was world World Food Safety Day, facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in which the slogan rightly says, 'food safety is everyone's business'. Due to this, I thought it would be worth sharing some data that I have worked on in this field!

Working at Markes International has really opened my eyes (and unfortunately my friends and family 🤣) to food safety and quality, especially with my recent application work on ethylene oxide and 2-chloroethanol residues in foodstuffs, as of the biggest global food recalls in history was and is still being implemented by the Rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF) in 2021, for high levels of these carcinogenic compounds.

1. Extraction of ethylene oxide and
2-chloroethanol from foodstuffs
using MSE–HS–Trap–GC–MS
Lucy Hearn - Application Specialist

2. ETHYLENE OXIDE
2
-
CHLOROETHANOL
CARCINOGEN
TOXIC
FLAGGED BY RASFF
MUTAGEN
VERY VOLATILE
FUMIGANT
BANNED IN THE EU
BY-PRODUCT OF ETO
What is ethylene oxide?
GLOBAL FOOD RECALL
TRACE LEVEL EXTRACTION
HEADSPACE
-TRAP
EXPORTS
MAXIMUM RESIDUE LIMIT: 0.01 MG/KG
FOODSTUFFS
REPRODUCTIVE TOXICANT

3. Multi-Step Enrichment (MSE)–HS–Trap analysis
Headspace:
Large sample mass for
analysis (>1g).
Simple and fast sample
prep.
Cleaner sample extract
injected.
No liner or detector
contamination.
Backflush trap:
Analysis of both ETO and 2-CE.
Cryogen-free.
Large HS volumes (>5mL).
GC-MS results:
Higher sensitivity, MDLs
0.00059 mg/kg and
0.00219 mg/kg for EtO
and 2-CE respectively. A
single analysis to detect
both ETO and 2-CE.

4. Sesame seeds Guar gum
Tahini
Hummus
Breads
Milk Ice cream
Stew/soups
Matrices tested

5. LINEARITY
R² >0.999
RSDs
<10%
RECOVERY
98-107%
REPLICATES
N=6
R² = 0.9995
2-ChloroethanolEthylene oxide
Results – Sesame seeds
R² = 0.999

6. LINEARITY
R² >0.998
RSDs
<7%
RECOVERY
99-106%
REPLICATES
N=6
2-Chloroethanol
Ethylene oxide
R² = 0.9988 R² = 0.9992
2-Chloroethanol
Results – Guar gum

7. Want to find out more?
Scan the QR code to read the full
application note or get in touch!