DETERMINATION OF STYRENE IN OLIVE OIL BY AN AUTOMATIC PURGE-AND-TRAP SYSTEM COUPLED TO GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A new gas chromatographic method using an automatic purge-and-trap system coupled to a GC with mass selective detection to analyze styrene at the parts-pet-trillions (ng kg(-1)) level is described. The method shows a good sensitivity and the detection limit is 10 ng kg(-1) with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 4.7% for 164 ng kg(-1) styrene in olive oil. This analytical method has been successfully applied to the analysis of styrene in extra-virgin olive oil from the European market.