Simultaneous determination of 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in daily foods (Hanoi metropolitan area) by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)—a large group of organic compounds—are extremely hazardous to human health. In this study, the 198 samples from six groups of daily food products in the Hanoi metropolitan area were collected and prepared by the QuEChERS sample treatment technique. The detection and identification of PAHs were obtained by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) determination. The results demonstrated that the recovery of PAH compounds ranged approximately between 71% and 110% when the solvent evaporation condition was optimized using the nitrogen gas at a low temperature (1 °C). The in-house method was validated in terms of linearity, extractive condition, repeatability, recovery, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). The ranges of average PAH levels were 9.3–9.6 µg/kg (for instant noodles), 0.22–2.48 µg/kg (for cakes) 0.91–4.83 µg/kg (dried vegetables), 5.14–23.32 µg/kg (teas), 4.82–24.35 µg/kg (coffees), and 1.43–25.2 µg/kg (grilled meats). The results indicated that the total concentrations of residual PAHs and benzo(a)pyrene in the instant noodles and grilled meat samples surpassed the maximum limits tolerated by the European Commission (35 µg/kg and 5 µg/kg, respectively) in many investigated samples.