*2.3. Myristicin and Elemicin in Foods*

Analytical methods are already in place to monitor myristicin and elemicin in complex food matrices [25]. An early study reported 16.9 mg myristicin per gram dried nutmeg powder following 12 h methanol extraction at 50 ◦C [26]. Other methods for analyzing ground nutmeg, wine and beer spices, and many food commodities utilize ultrasonic assisted extractions, followed by solid phase extraction and gas chromatography (GC)– mass spectrometry (MS) [64,65]. Other methods for analyzing myristicin from ground nutmeg (502 μg/g), from wine and beer spices (11.87 μg/g), from some food commodities (2.46–15.22 μg/g), and even from human serum (17.60–33.25 μg/g from human volunteers who incorporated 100 mg myristicin 1 h before blood sampling) utilize ultrasonic assisted extractions, followed by solid phase extraction and gas chromatography (GC)– mass spectrometry (MS) [64,65]. Other methods use functionalized magnetic microspheres for isolation of allyl-benzodioxoles, followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, such as myristicin (264.2–599.6 μg/L) and safrole (14.0–40.35 μg/L) from cola drinks [66]. However, in these methods, varying and often not fully validated analytical procedures were used, hampering the comparability of the analytical results. In addition, for many food categories no data are available at all. Since there is no legal mandate for monitoring all potentially toxic alkenylbenzenes in all relevant food categories, the availability of comprehensive and reliable occurrence data is currently rather limited. Taken together, the actual occurrence levels of myristicin and elemicin, as well as of many other alkenylbenzenes, are still widely unknown for many foods.
