Method validation and measurement uncertainty for the simultaneous determination of synthetic phenolic antioxidants in edible oils commonly consumed in Korea

•Synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) are widely used in edible oils in Korea.•The simultaneous determination of SPAs was validated by HPLC-UV and LC–MS/MS.•The recoveries of SPAs ranged from 91.4% to 115.9% with RSD between 0.3% and 1.4%.•The analytical uncertainty was evaluated by a precision study for each SPA.•These methods are suitable for the determination of maximum SPAs levels. This study investigated a method for the validation and determination of measurement uncertainty for the simultaneous determination of synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) such as propyl gallate (PG), octyl gallate (OG), dodecyl gallate (DG), 2,4,5-trihydroxy butyrophenone (THBP), tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in edible oils commonly consumed in Korea. The validated method was able to extract SPA residues under the optimized HPLC-UV and LC–MS/MS conditions. Furthermore, the measurement of uncertainty was evaluated based on the precision study. For HPLC-UV analysis, the recoveries of SPAs ranged from 91.4% to 115.9% with relative standard deviations between 0.3% and 11.4%. In addition, the expanded uncertainties of the SPAs ranged from 0.15 to 5.91. These results indicate that the validated method is appropriate for the extraction and determination of SPAs and can be used to verify the safety of edible oil products containing SPAs residues.