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EURL 2014 PT PAH in food supplements

Determination of 4 marker PAHs in food supplements

Details

Publication date
22 May 2014

Description

Determination of 4 marker PAHs in food supplements

The European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons organises a proficiency test on the determination of 4 marker PAHs (see Table 1) in food supplements.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the capabilities of European National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) and Official Food Control Laboratories (OCLs) in the determination of the target analytes and their sum in food supplements.

Only NRLs for PAHs and OCLs as indicated by NRLs can participate in the study.

Participation is admitted to maximum 50 official food control laboratories, which will be accepted in the order of registration.

Participation is free of charge for NRLs for PAHs.

The participation fee is EUR 350 (three hundred) per registration for OCLs, which do not have NRL status

Test material and analytes

The test sample for the determination of the EU marker PAHs will consist of

a) an amber glass vial containing about 20 g of spirulina test sample

b) an amber glass ampoule containing about 20 g of fish oil.

benz[a]anthracene (BaA)

benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF)

benzo[a]pyrene (BaP)

chrysene (CHR)

Sum of the four marker PAHs

In addition, participants will get an ampoule with a solution of PAHs with disclosed analyte content, in, depending on their preference, either acetonitrile or toluene. This solution will be supplied to allow the participants verifying their instrument calibration against an independent standard.

General outline

Participants are requested to perform three independent analyses of each sample. These analyses shall be performed on the same day. Participants have to report the results for individual analytes of the replicate analyses. These results have to be reported corrected for recovery.

Participants will be also asked to report a single value for scoring, the "final value", both for the individual analytes as well as for the sum of the four marker PAHs. These results will have to be reported corrected for recovery and have to be accompanied by the respective measurement uncertainty.

Further details will be communicated to participants at a later stage.

Performance assessment:

The performance of the participants in the determination of PAHs in food supplements will be rated by z-scores and zeta-scores.

The standard deviations for proficiency assessment will be derived:

  • For the four individual target analytes, from the fitness-for-purpose function given in Commission Regulation (EC) No 333/2007, assuming a value of 0.3 µg/kg for the limit of detection.
  • For their sum, from the sP - values of the individual analytes, applying the law of uncertainty propagation.

Registration

Via invitation and submitting a filled in (.pdf) registration form.

Reporting of results: End of June
Reporting to participants: August
Sample dispatch: May 2014
Year: 2014-01-01 00:00:00
Contact: jrc-irmm-eurl-pahatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (jrc-irmm-eurl-pah[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

Files

2 FEBRUARY 2022
EUR EN 26847 Report EURL PAH PT 2014 food supplements_final.pdf
English
(3.44 MB - PDF)
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