Determination of m-xylylenediamine in the official EU food simulant olive oil

EU Directive 90/128/EEC prescribes a specific migration limit (SML) of 0.05 mg kg(-1) for the aliphatic diamine m-xylylenediamine (XDA) into food or f ood simulants, but there is no generally accepted method of analysis availa ble for testing compliance with this restriction, m-XDA has been determined in olive oil (EU food simulant for fatty foods) by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection, after extraction into a n aqueous phase and derivatization with fluorescamine. The method is approp riate for the quantitative determination of m-XDA at a minimum level of 0.0 2 mg kg(-1) in this food simulant. The method should also be applicable to other fatty-food simulants (sunflower oil and HE 307).