A pilot survey of 2- and 3-monochloropropanediol and glycidol fatty acid esters in foods on the Canadian market 2011–2013

We are presenting data on the occurrence of 2- and 3-MCPD esters and glycidol esters (MCPDEs and GEs) in more than 100 different edible fats, oils, and related products containing fats/oils, such as cookies and cooking sprays. Most of these products were purchased from retail stores in Ottawa, Canada between 2011 and 2013 in duplicate, thus allowing for evaluation of temporal trends. GEs and MCPDEs were determined by stable isotope dilution analysis using glycidol-d5 labelled standards by LC–MS/MS in APCI mode and GC–MS in SIM mode after derivation with cyclohexanone, respectively. Unprocessed oils did not contain detectable levels of GEs or MCPDEs or contained them in trace amounts. The exception was palm oil, which contained 100–550 ng/g MCPDEs. GEs and MCPDEs content was highly variable in processed oils/fats, reaching 10.6 and 17.1 μg/g (expressed as glycidol and MCPDs equivalents, respectively). Walnut, rice bran, grape seed oils and palm oil shortening were found to have the highest levels of MCPDEs and GEs. Levels in cookies also varied greatly from 5 to 339 ng/g, expressed as glycidol equivalents and from 29 to 510 ng/g expressed as MCPD equivalents.