Analysis of EU priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in food supplements using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to an ultraviolet, diode array or fluorescence detector

High performance liquid chromatography coupled to an ultraviolet, diode array or fluorescence detector (HPLC/UV-FLD) has been used to set up a method to detect the 15(+1) EU priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in food supplements covering the categories of dried plants and plant extracts excluding oily products. A mini validation was performed and the following parameters have been determined: limit of detection, limit of quantification, precision, recovery and linearity. They were in close agreement with quality criteria described in the Commission Regulation (EC) No 333/2007 concerning the PAH benzo[a]pyrene in foodstuffs, except the not fluorescent cyclopenta[c,d]pyrene for which the UV detection leads to a higher limit of detection. Analysis of twenty commercial food supplements covering mainly the class of dried plants was performed to evaluate their PAHs contamination levels and to test the applicability of the method to various plant matrices. Fifty percent of analyzed samples showed concentration exceeding 2 μg kg−1 for one or more PAHs.