What is ethylene oxide?

Agroalimentaire : Les dangers de l'oxyde d'éthylène

It is a molecule with biocidal and fungicidal properties , widely used for the sterilization and disinfection of foodstuffs and their containers.
Beyond its disinfectant properties, this molecule is one of the carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic compounds (= CMR ), thus explaining the need to control its level in the products on which it is used.

The use of ethylene oxide is therefore subject to strict regulations indicating a maximum residue limit (= MRL) set in EC regulation n ° 396/2005 .

Polymex notably carries out checks on the ethylene oxide content on foodstuffs and their packaging, in order to ensure the absence of residues and therefore guarantee that the content meets the standards set.
The technique used in the laboratory for this quantification is that of the headspace/GCMS.

How it works ?

The sample to be analyzed is prepared according to a suitable protocol, the extract is placed in a vial (vial), then is heated so that the gas is released into the head space of the vial.
An aliquot of this headspace is taken and injected into the GC column in order to proceed with the separation of the volatile compounds, and the fragments are then detected and identified using mass spectrometry.

Thanks to a complete analytical park, the laboratory is able to research and quantify Ethylene Oxide (EO) [75-21-8] as well as Chloroethanol (ECH) [107-07-3] in your packaging and certain foodstuffs for a conformity check according to EC regulation n°396/2005 .

Example of analysis by matrix type:

Matrix Types	Analytical Method Used	Limit of quantification in EO
Ice cream	HS/GCMS	0.25 µg
Seeds	Grinding, extraction then HS/GCMS	0.25 µg
Liquids	HS/GCMS	0.25 µg
Powder	Extraction then HS/GCMS	0.25 µg
Capsule	Extraction then HS/GCMS	0.25 µg
Solid	Extraction then HS/GCMS	0.25 µg