Corn oils from different brands produced and commercialized in Brazil, were analysed for benzo(a)pyrene B(a)P. The methodology involved extraction with cyclohexane, clean-up on silica gel and determination by high performance liquid chromatography with a fluorescence detector All samples analysed showed contamination by B(a)P and the levels found varied widely among brands and within different batches of the same brand, in the range of 0.85 to 25.17 µg/kg. One out 49 samples analysed in the period of 2 years presented an amount of B(a)P below the referencial limit of 1 µg/kg.
benzo(a)pyrene; corn oil; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
