Analysis of furan in semi-solid and paste type foods

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Food Safety

Background:

• Furan is a potential food contaminant found in various processed foods.
• Semi-solid and paste-type foods are widely consumed in Korea.
• Accurate quantification of furan in these food matrices is crucial for consumer safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an analytical method for furan determination.
• To analyze furan levels in diverse semi-solid and paste-type Korean foods.
• To identify food products with high furan content.

Main Methods:

• Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
• Analysis of 131 food samples across 11 categories.
• Method validation including linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision, and accuracy.

Main Results:

• The developed method demonstrated excellent linearity (R² = 0.9962–0.9996).
• Limit of Detection (LOD) was 0.18 ng/g and Limit of Quantitation (LOQ) was 0.54 ng/g.
• Recovery rates ranged from 88.03% to 105.06%, indicating high accuracy and precision.
• Dry cereals (8.60 ng/g), pickled cucumbers (6.45 ng/g), and oyster sauces (4.40 ng/g) exhibited the highest average furan concentrations.

Conclusions:

• A validated HS-SPME-GC-MS method enables reliable furan analysis in semi-solid and paste-type foods.
• Specific Korean food products like dry cereals, pickled cucumbers, and oyster sauces are significant sources of furan.
• Findings highlight the need for monitoring and potential mitigation strategies for furan in these consumed food items.