The use of stir bar sorptive extraction--a potential alternative method for the determination of furan, evaluated...

A comparison is made between static headspace analysis and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) for the quantitative determination of furan. The SBSE technique was optimised and evaluated using two example food matrices (coffee and jarred baby food). The use of the SBSE technique in most cases, gave comparable results to the static headspace method, using the method of standard additions with d4-labelled furan as an internal standard. Using the SBSE method, limits of detection down to 2 ng g(-1) were achieved, with only a 1 h extraction. The method was performed at ambient temperatures, thus eliminating the possibility of formation of furan during extraction.