In recent years the necessity for routine analysis of glycidyl esters (GE) and 3-monocholoropropanediol esters (3-MCPDe) in edible oils intended as a food ingredient has become increasingly relevant. As existing legislation within the EU on the maximum levels of GE in edible oils is anticipated to be supplemented with maximum levels for 3-MCPDe in 2021, food producers are looking for fast and cost-effective ways to implemented the quantitation of these process contaminants in their products. As a result, we published an automated procedure that effectively addressed the needs of Quality Control (QC) laboratories within edible oil production facilities. Recently, further optimizations improved the robustness and sample throughput even further. Both the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) committee for Animal and Vegetable Oils (ISO TC34/SC11) unanimously approved to develop the method as a new standard. Hence, a collaborative study was set-up to provide the statistical data for standardization for which the round robin was completed in December 2019 while the second part of the study has been scheduled to start in early 2020. An update on the standardization project is presented including collaborative study data collected thus far.
