Recently a study indicated that some fats and oils may contain chloropropanols bound in the form of fatty acid esters. The amount of chloropropanols in such samples appeared in many cases to correlate with the extent of the level of refining and other treatments the oil had been exposed to. No data is currently available addressing the toxicity of these compounds relative to “free” chloropropanols.

Eurofins offers testing services for 3-MCPD in its free form and is implementing a method for its fatty acid ester form. The preferred sample size for oils are 5 g while the preferred sample size for finished products should allow for the extraction of a minimum of 10 g of fat. Please note that normally recommended practices for fat extraction such as acid hydrolysis are not acceptable for extracting fat for this analysis as some of the extraction processes have been known to generate chloropropanols. For further information about our capabilities in the US, the following team members are able to assist:

For technical questions, please contact:

For questions regarding sample submittal, please contact:

For questions regarding our capabilities in Europe, please contact Eurofins Wietz-Eggert-Jörissen at service@eurofins.de or contact Lars Reimann at LarsReimann@EurofinsUS.com. To download our technical information sheet, click here.