Reply #5: Meh. Hexane is extremely volatile -- should be easily lost even before cooking.

[eppur_se_muova]

"Hexanes" may actually refer to several different compounds, all with low boiling points (120-155 F).

...The toxicity is not due to hexane itself but to one of its metabolites, hexane-2,5-dione....

The adverse health effects above seem specific to n-hexane; they are much reduced or absent for other isomers. Therefore, the food oil extraction industry, which relied heavily on hexane, has been considering switching to other solvents, including isohexane.<9><10><11>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexane#Toxicity

The levels of exposure required for toxic effects are really quite high -- in the hundreds-thousands of ppm (ie, in hundreds to tenths of 1%). More of an occupational safety issue for people who work with it, as they often breathe it in.

Of all the things you might unexpectedly find in your food, this one is way down there in terms of actual danger present. Traces of natural occuring mold metabolites -- some toxic at ppt level -- in the food itself probably pose the greater danger.

Not that I like foreign chemicals in my food, but this is a little bit of a false alarm.