DETERMINATION OF STYRENE IN OLIVE OIL BY COEVAPORATION, COLD TRAP, AND GC/MS/SIM

A new procedure to determine styrene in olive oil, a simulant of fatty food, is presented. The method is based on the coevaporation of styrene with a solvent of low boiling point at 90-degrees-C. The vapors obtained are condensed in a frozen syringe, and this liquid is injected in GC/MS/SIM mode. The method has been validated using deuterated styrene (d8) and alpha-methylstyrene as internal standards. The detection limit is 10 mug/kg with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 5 % for 50 mug/kg styrene in olive oil.