Abstract
Monitoring for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food is crucial due to their persistence in the environment and potential health risks. PFAS compounds, often referred to as “forever chemicals,” do not break down easily and can accumulate in the food chain, leading to long-term exposure in humans. Since these chemicals can enter food through contaminated water, soil, or food packaging, regular monitoring helps safeguard public health by ensuring that food products meet safety standards and reduces the risk of chronic exposure.
Many laboratories have developed strategies for the determination of PFAS compounds from food samples. For example, scientists at the FDA recently released an extension to their method C-010.02 [1]. In this study, we were able to show that the solid phase extraction procedure used within this method can be easily automated using the FREESTYLE SPE-PFAS robotic system. The resulting extracts are introduced into an Agilent Ultivo LC-MS/MS instrument for detection and quantification. By the application of automated solid phase extraction, multiple samples can be processed with low demand for personnel resources. The FREESTYLE SPE-PFAS robotic system is especially suited for PFAS determination because it contains no fluorine-containing plastics such as PTFE in the flow path, thus solving the significant issue of high blank values present in other systems. In this study, no measurable blank values were seen from the system.
Keywords
Sample Preparation, LC-MS/MS, Automated SPE, High Throughput Lab Automation, PFAS
