This document specifies a procedure for the determination of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons (from C10 to C50) in vegetable fats and oils using the online-coupled high performance liquid chromatography-gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (HPLC-GC-FID). This document does not apply to other matrices.

The method is applicable for the analysis of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) and/or mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH).

According to the results of the interlaboratory studies, the method has been proven suitable for MOSH mass concentrations above 3 mg/kg and MOAH mass concentrations above 2 mg/kg.

In case of suspected interferences, the fossil origin of the MOSH and MOAH fraction can be verified by examination by GC⨯GC-MS.

An alternative method for the epoxidation of the MOAH fraction (performic acid epoxidation) is proposed in Annex C. This alternative method provides comparable results to the ethanolic epoxidation of the MOAH fraction described in 8.6. This alternative method for epoxidation has proven to be efficient for samples with a high amount of interferences in the MOAH fraction (e.g. tropical oils).