The presence of ethyl carbamate in cachaças, tiquiras, whiskies and grapes was investigated by GC-MS, monitoring the m/z 62 ion. The external standard method was used for quantitation in 188 samples (126 cachaças, 37 tiquiras, 6 grappas and 19 whiskies). The results of the study for cachaça were analysed considering the geographic origin, distillation type (still or column), bottle coloration (amber or transparent) and ageing. The average contents of ethyl carbamate in cachaças and tiquiras were 0.77 and 2.4 mg L-1, respectively. These values were higher than the mean concentration found in grapes (0.045 mg L-1) and whiskies (0.14 mg L-1). On average the cachaças distilled in column tend to present higher values of ethyl carbamate than those from still. In the sampling studied it was not possible to define a correlation between content of ethyl carbamate, bottle coloration and ageing time.
GC-MS; ethyl carbamate; alcoholic beverages; spirits
