Alternative methods for evaluating MOSH and MOAH

Mineral oil saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons (MOSH and MOAH) are petroleum-derived food contaminants of ubiquitous occurrence. In its 2023 scientific opinion updating the 2012 assessment, the European Food Safety Authority highlighted several persisting uncertainties that currently limit robust risk assessment. These concern both analytical and toxicological aspects, including the need for improved characterization of MOSH and MOAH chemical sub-classes found in food, as well as a better understanding of the correlation between these sub-classes and their toxicological properties.
From an analytical standpoint, MOH determination is largely based on LC–GC–FID, which is now widely implemented for routine control. While this approach provides standardized quantification of MOSH and MOAH fractions, it offers limited insight into the actual composition of the studied MOSH and MOAH (whether analyzed as food contaminants or derived directly from native mineral oils), thereby limiting progress toward addressing the previously mentioned gaps.
This presentation will therefore discuss alternative analytical strategies, including LC fractionation, planar chromatography, and multidimensional chromatographic approaches, combined or not with in vitro toxicological testing, that may complement the reference method and contribute to addressing some of the open questions, without aiming to promote replacement of the conventional LC–GC–FID method.
In this context, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) will be positioned as a central tool for enhanced characterization of MOSH and MOAH, as well as for supporting the development of other analytical and toxicological techniques.