Exceeding EU Guidelines for the Determination of PFAS in Chicken Eggs

Since the 1940’s the global use of per and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in the production of commodities ranging from fire-fighting foams through to textiles has been extensive. The chemical backbone of PFAS comprises of strong carbon-fluorine bonds, making them resistant to chemical and biological degradation which in turn has led to ubiquitous PFAS contamination in the environment. PFAS are now known to be toxic to man and wildlife thus mandating their control and monitoring across the globe. Whilst the initial focus for PFAS analysis has been primarily on environmental samples such as water and soil, there is a growing interest in quantifying their presence in the food chain.

In April 2023 the European commission published regulation EU 2023/915 of maximum levels of certain contaminants in foodstuffs, describing maximum levels of 4 PFAS components.

In collaboration with Ducares B.V., Trading as Triskelion, and Agilent Technologies, an end-to-end workflow for the quantitation of 21 PFAS in chicken eggs by LC/MS/MS is described. The workflow combines proprietary QuEChERS and solid phase extraction sample preparation chemistries to reduce chemical interferences from cholesterol, lipids, and proteins. The entire workflow performance was successfully evaluated according to the SANTE 11312/2021 guideline based on sensitivity, limit of quantification, linearity, recovery, and repeatability and has been extended to 17 PFAS beyond the requirements of the current EU legislation.

Key learning objectives:

• Understand the European regulation and recommendation for PFAS analysis in eggs
• Understand why effective sample preparation is required to fulfill the above EU regulation
• Learn how LC/MS/MS has been used to determine 21 PFAS components in 14 minutes

Who should attend:

• Private CRO food safety testing laboratories
• Government food testing laboratories
• Academic food science laboratories
• Food lab managers
• Food lab instrument operators

Presenter: René van der Molen (Analytical Chemist, Ducares B.V., Trading as Triskelion)

René van der Molen BSc obtained his degree at Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein (Leeuwarden) in Forensic Sciences where he specialized in analytical chemistry. He completed his graduation internship at DUCARES B.V. in Utrecht and after receiving his diploma he could start his professional career at the same company.

A couple of years passed by and René has worked his way up from performing sample preparation to becoming an LC-MS/MS operator and ultimately managing his own research projects where the quality of the analysis and results has to be managed. Since this year DUCARES B.V. - trading as Triskelion has a research agreement with Agilent on PFAS analysis in various matrices.

Presenter: Carola Damen (LC/MS Product Specialist Benelux, Agilent Technologies)

Carola Damen PhD PharmD obtained her master's degree in pharmacy at the University of Groningen, after which she completed her pharmacist training at the same university. During her studies she specialized fully in the field of analytical chemistry and in particular liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.

Carola fulfilled various laboratory functions focusing on small molecule analysis using LC/MS. She has been working as a product specialist LC/MS at Agilent since 2020 and has a special point of interest the analysis of PFAS.