Mineral oil hydrocarbons MOSH/MOAH

Mineral oil hydrocarbons or MOHs comprise a diverse group of hydrocarbon mixtures containing thousands of chemical compounds of different structures and sizes, derived primarily from crude oil, but also produced synthetically from coal, natural gas and biomass.

MOHs are hydrocarbon chains containing from 10 to 50 carbon atoms. In terms of food contamination, there are two major classes:

• MOSH (mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons), which include a fraction of saturated hydrocarbons subdivided into paraffins or alkanes and naphthenes.
• MOAH (mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons), which includes the fraction of unsaturated hydrocarbons. This fraction contains aromatics or polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) which have one or more alkylated benzene rings. MOAHs are food contaminants and are considered to be potentially carcinogenic to human health.