Contaminants are dangerous substances which appear in food at various stages during production, packaging, transportation or storage. They can also be found as a consequence of enviromental pollution. The European Union has established measures to minimise the presence of contaminants in food, since it has an adverse impact on the quality of foodstuffs and may create risks to human health.

These measures concern the following contaminants: mycotoxins (aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, fusarium toxins, patulin), metals (cadmium, lead, mercury, inorganic tin), dioxins and PCBs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), chloropropanols (3-MCPD) and nitrates.

E.U. with the recent regulation 2022/2388 of December 7th, 2022 sets maximum limits for the presence of PFOS, PFOA, PFNA and PFHxS in food.

Tsakalidis Analysis & Testing laboratories offers the solutions to control the above contaminants according to the following methods
 

• HEAVY METALS

Heavy metals come in food chain mainly through farming soils, which are the final recipient of several contaminants, but they are also found in fish from polluted water and in a lot of processed food as a result of contamination from production or storage. Some of the heavy metals have a special nutrional value and are essential for our health, while others like lead, cadmium and mercury are extremely toxic and cause serious health damages.

The European Union Regulation 1881/2006 and Directive 2001/22 has established the maximum allowed concentrations of heavy metals in various foodstuffs.

PARAMETER	METHOD	ACCREDITATION
Arsenic	Ο.521 / ICP-MS
Cadmium	Ο.521 / ICP-MS
Tin	Ο.521 / ICP-MS
Lead	Ο.521 / ICP-MS
Selenium	Ο.521 / ICP-MS
Mercury	Ο.521 / ICP-MS
Chromium	Ο.521 / ICP-MS
Chromium Hexavalent	extraction / GFAAS

• ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS

PARAMETER	METHOD	ACCREDITATION
Acrylamide	Ο.637
Methanol	Headspace/ GC/FID
Ethyl acetate	Headspace/ GC/MS
Paradichlorobenzene	Headspace/ GC/MS
Pentadiene 1,3	Headspace/ GC/MS
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)	GC/MS
Polychlorinated Bisphenyls (PCBs)	GC/ECD
Phalates	GC/FID
Ethyl carbamate	GC/MS
PCDD/F-PCB   (WHO-TEQ)	EPA 1613
PFOS, PFOA, PFNA και PFHxS	LC-MS/MS
Histamine	Ο.611