Quantitative Determination of Benzo[a]pyrene in Foodstuffs Using Benzo[a]pyrene[G-³H]

Abstract

A method for quantitative determination of nano gram level of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) in foodstuffs using tritiated BP (³H-BP) was described. Extracts from foodstuffs, having been added a certain amount of ³H-BP, were fractionated by column chromatography on Florisil, and thinlayer chromatography on acetylated cellulose. Concentration and radio activity of BP in the final fraction were determined by fluorescence spectrometry and liquid scintillation. Recovery ratio of each experiment was obtained by comparing the radio activities of added ³H-BP and separated BP. Concentration of BP in the sample analyzed was calculated from the amount of isolated BP and the recovery ratio in each experiment. A quantitative limit of BP by this method was 0.2 ppb when 50 g of sample was used.
By this method, contents of BP in each sample of Tenpura oil, salad oil, flour, and polished rice were determined as 0.6, 0.2, 0.1, and <0.1 ppb on average, respectively.