Determination and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in native vegetable oils,smoked fish products,mussels and oysters,and bream from the river Elbe

Twenty eight native vegetable oils were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Generally PAH concentrations were low, but olive oils showed significantly higher contamination by light PAH ranging from 53 to 105.6 μg/kg. Muscle and liver samples of bream from the river Elbe contained little or no detectable amounts of PAH, whereas fresh and canned oysters and mussels showed higher contaminations. Highest PAH concentrations have been determined in “smoked oysters in oil” with 75.8 μg/kg benzo[a] pyrene for the oil and 12.2 μg/kg for the oyster meat.