Simultaneous determination of furan and its derivatives in food by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS)

A method for the simultaneous determination of furans, 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran in some food by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has successfully developed. Analysed samples were treated by a headspace technique using furan-d4 as an internal standard. The detection limit of the method is 0.3 µg/kg, the quantitative limit of the method is 1.0 µg/kg. The recovery of the method is in the range of 72 to 110%. The relative standard deviation ranges from 3.3 to 13%. The method was applied to analyze 100 food samples, including: coffees, canned meats, baby foods, powdered milk. The results showed that furans, 2-methylfuran, 3-methylfuran were detected in 30 samples out of 100 collected samples. In particular, furans were found in a ranges of 5.7 to 2803 µg/kg in all of coffee samples, including instant coffee and roasted coffee. In addition, furans were detected in one baby food sample contains, furans and 2-methylfuran in four canned meat samples, and no furans milk were detected in powder sample among 25 analysed samples.