Improved procedure for determination of acrylonitrile in foods and its application to meat

The previously described headspace-gas chromatographic procedure for the determination of acrylonitrile (AN) in several foods, with N/P selective detection, has been modified to include packaged luncheon meats. The loss of AN during equilibration at 100 degrees C in meat samples as well as the previously described loss in cold pack cheese and peanut butter has been studied. The loss of AN could be prevented by the addition of 10% phosphoric acid, which increases the acidity of the food-acid-salt slurry to pH 1.2-1.5. This acidification permits detection of AN at 2 ppb (5% FSD at 16 X 10(-2) amp/mV) in all foods studied. AN was not detected in 10 samples of luncheon meat packaged in AN-based plastic which contained up to 2.6 ppm AN.