Furan in food: Headspace method and product survey

Abstract

Headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been adapted for the efficient determination of furan in foods. Levels of furan in various foods were measured in order to identify the products that contribute most to the human intake of furan. Highest amounts were found in products that were heat treated in sealed containers such as jarred and canned food products and in crusty and dry products such as snacks, biscuits, bread crust, roasted wheat flour and roasted coffee beans. Of the analysed jarred baby food products those containing only meat and starch from rice and corn had low levels of furan. In addition, the fruit products showed similar low levels. Clearly higher concentrations were found in the vegetable and vegetable-meat products. For the adult population coffee seems to be an important product with respect to furan intake. Coffee brews from espresso-type machines had considerably higher amounts of furan than other coffee brews. This type of coffee is considered by experts to have the best coffee aroma. It is assumed that for regular coffee consumers coffee is the most important source of furan intake.

Furan and alkylated furans in heat processed food, including home cooked products

“…Popcorn and crisps contained high levels of furan (91 µg/kg and up to 52 µg/kg, respectively). These findings are consistent with those reported by Zoller et al (2007). A mean concentration of 57.4 µg/kg furan was found in breakfast cereals (n = 11), with particularly high levels found in honey coated products.…”

“…The furan level here might be associated with the use of ascorbic acid in the flour used in the production, combined with a baking process which leaves low levels of water in the final products. In samples of infant foods containing fruit no furan was found, however in two samples containing vegetables, furan levels of about 45 µg/kg were observed, which is in agreement with results reported by Zoller et al (2007); Jestoi et al (2009) and Mesías et al (2012).…”

“…The beverages (n = 32) investigated include fruit and vegetable juice, milk, cream, tea, soft drinks, syrup and cocoa. Previous studies have found low levels of furan in juices and beers Morehouse et al 2007;Zoller et al 2007). In the present study, varying levels of furan were found in beer and coffee with the lowest levels observed in ready-to-drink beer (LOQ 2.9 µg/kg) and instant coffee (LOQ to 6.6 µg/kg).…”

Quality assessment of baby food made of different pre-processed organic raw materials under industrial processing conditions

“…No significant difference in the content of CML and Furosine was observed between the different raw materials: fresh, stored as fresh and deep frozen. The furan content of all baby food samples made of the three different raw materials corresponds to the average content of 25 μg/kg reported in the monitoring of EFSA (2009) for commercial jarred baby food and is below the average furan content of 40 μg/kg for baby food samples containing mainly vegetables shown by Zoller et al (2007). A slight decrease of furan could be observed when the carrots were frozen before processing.…”

Determination of furan by headspace solid-phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in balsamic vinegars of Modena (Italy)

“…The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found levels up to approximately 100 ng/g for approximately 300 food samples (US FDA, 2004a;US FDA, 2004b); additional data were presented from the Swiss Office of Public Health (Reinhard, Sagar, Zimmermann, & Zoller, 2004). A wide selection of food items was analysed to identify those products which contribute most to the human intake of furan (Zoller, Sager, & Reinhard, 2007).…”