MOSH and MOAH in food: a long-lasting analytical challenge

Abstract: The presence of mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) in foods has been known since the beginning of the 90s, although they have gained the attention of consumers and institutions in the last 10-15 years. They represent a potential risk to human health, although many gaps remain still open, and several challenges still need to be tackled.

Despite the use of advanced analytical techniques, the analysis of this broad class of compounds (divided into saturated, MOSH, and aromatic, MOAH, hydrocarbons) remain still a challenge due to the high complexity not only of the class of compounds itself but also of possible sources of contamination and the food matrix itself. This complexity causes rather poor reliability of the results obtained. Many efforts have been made in the last years to improve the reliability and robustness of the analytical method.

The goal of this lecture is to give an overview of the state of the arts of the topic, mainly from an analytical perspective. An insight into the historical development of the analytical approaches will be provided, with a focus on recent advancements.