Identification of volatile and non-volatile migrants released during sous vide cooking by UPLC-IMS-QTOF and DI-SPME-GC-MS using a design of experiments approach

Abstract

The rise of new culinary advances combined with science has made it possible to find new optimum methods of cooking, such as vacuum cooking (Sous Vide), that allow achieving pleasant textures, preserving the genuine nature of the food and also its original flavour. Sous Vide involves the direct contact of plastic materials with food during cooking, causing the possible release of chemical compounds that may alter the properties of the food and pose a risk to human health. In this work, the migration kinetics that takes place during this cooking process have been estimated thanks to a design of experiments (DoE). DoE has been applied to 4 samples of vacuum cooking bags containing 3 food simulants (ethanol 10%, acetic acid 3% and isooctane) under typical cooking conditions of the culinary technique. The study also allowed the identification of the main volatile and non-volatile migrants that can be transferred from this particular packaging. Twenty-nine non-volatile species were identified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole-time-of-flight ion-mobility separation mass spectrometer (UPLC-IMS-QTOF) and sixty-four volatile species were identified by solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS). Furthermore, a comprehensive literature analysis was conducted to explore the applications, origins, and potential toxicity of these compounds.