Determination of fumigants in cereals and cereal products by capillary gas chromatography.

This study describes two methods for the quantitative determination of the residual fumigants ethylene dichloride (EDC), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), trichloroethylene (TCE), ethylene dibromide (EDB) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in cereals (especially wheat) and other foodstuffs. In the first method, a micro steam distillation- solvent extraction apparatus is used, while the second method is based on a headspace technique. For the quantitative determination of carbon tetrachloride in cereals, the multiple headspace technique is not retained because it is too time-consuming. The analysis of the different fumigants is performed by electron-capture gas chromatography, using a fused silica capillary column, CP sil 8 CB. With the steam distillation-solvent extraction method, recoveries from 95.9% to 100.5% are obtained for the fumigants, added at two different levels. The standard deviation varies between 1.1% and 6%. Using the simple headspace technique, recoveries from 73.5% to 85.1% with a standard deviation of between 1.7% and 6.6% have been reached for the fumigants in cereals fortified at two different levels. The absolute detection limits for the five fumigants EDC, CCl4, TCE, EDB and PCE, in both methods, are 30, 0.25, 1.1, and 0.5 pg, respectively.