Improved Analytical Method for Determination of Furan and Its Derivatives in Commercial Foods by HS-SPME Arrow Combined with Gas Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Owing to the presence of significant levels of toxic furan compounds reported globally in commercial foods by various food authorities, the objectives of this study were to develop an analytical method for determination of furan and its 10 derivatives in commercial foods using headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME)-Arrow coupled with gas chromatography−tandem mass spectrometry. Furan and its 10 derivatives were separated within 10 min by employing an HP-5MS capillary column with d 4 -furan as the internal standard for quantitation. The most optimal sample weight and extraction time for various commercial food samples, respectively, ranged from 1 to 5 g and 10−15 min depending on the sample variety. For extraction, carboxen/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (CAR/PDMS) cellulose was used with the temperature at 30 °C, equilibration time of 15 min, and desorption time of 3 min. The limit of detection ranged from 0.001 to 1.071 ng/g, while the limit of quantitation ranged from 0.003 to 3.571 ng/g. A high precision and accuracy were obtained for this method. The total furan content in commercial foods ranged from nd to 40 725.85 ng/g, in which the mean contents were the highest for brewed coffee (35 082.26 ng/g) and canned coffee (25 152.22 ng/g), while the lowest were for potato chip and cookies (0.57−1.48 ng/g), donut (1.50 ng/g), milk (0.34−30.38 ng/g), and oat (6.56 ng/g).

Optimization of Jinhua Ham Classification Method Based on Volatile Flavor Substances and Determination of Key Odor Biomarkers

“…In comparison, the 75 μm CAR/PDMS extraction tip had better performance on sensitivity, adsorption capacity, and chromatographic response value, so it was chosen as the extraction fiber tip for detecting the flavors of Jinhua ham. In Huang’s study, the CAR/PDMS fiber was selected for the SPME Arrow method for subsequent analysis of furan and its derivatives in commercial food products by GC–MS/MS [ 21 ].…”

Formation of furanoic compounds in model systems with saccharides, amino acids, and fatty acids, analyzed with headspace-solid phase micro-extraction-gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

“…Due to their chemical properties (boiling point of furan 31.5 °C), the analysis of furanoic compounds is usually performed by headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS), and quantification is based on stable isotope dilution analysis (SI-DA) (Altaki et al, 2007;Batool et al, 2020;Becalski et al, 2010;Condurso et al, 2018;Frank et al, 2020;Goldmann et al, 2005;Limacher et al, 2008). To gain higher sensitivity, a tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method was recently published, which shows the timeliness and necessity of an accurate and sensitive analysis of furanoic compounds (Huang et al, 2022a;Huang et al, 2022b). Huang et al (2022a) applied the GC-MS/MS method to determine the formation of furan and its derivatives in model systems obtained by a mixture of glucose and alanine with ascorbic acid and linoleic acid under different conditions.…”

“…Headspace solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) is an enhanced extraction method for determining furanoic compounds and provides high sensitivity by enriching the volatiles onto the fiber and reducing interferences from matrix compounds to a minimum (Alsafra et al, 2021;Altaki et al, 2007;Batool et al, 2020;Huang et al, 2022a;Huang et al, 2022b).…”

A comprehensive review of furan in foods: From dietary exposures and in vivo metabolism to mitigation measures

“…(2016) reported that HS trap extraction markedly improved the sensitivity for furan analysis by lowering the LOD 10 times compared with the HS sampling (Table 4). Recently, a novel SPME‐based device called SPME‐Arrow was employed to extract furan and its derivatives from model systems and/or various food matrices (Huang, Kao et al., 2022; Huang, Kao, Inbaraj et al., 2022) (Table 4). The SPME‐Arrow consists of a larger amount of sorbent material coated on an inner steel rod and protected by an outer metal tube, which improves sample capacity, extraction efficiency, reproducibility, and robustness of the traditional SPME (Kim, Lee et al., 2020; Lisanti et al., 2021).…”

“…Gas chromatography–flame ionization detector (GC/FID) (Hu et al., 2016; Masite et al., 2022) and gas chromatography coupled with tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) (Pugajeva et al., 2016; Huang, Kao et al., 2022; Huang, Kao, Inbaraj et al., 2022) have also been successfully applied for furan detection in food samples with satisfactory selectivity and sensitivity. Hu et al.…”