title: Level of endogenous formaldehyde in maple syrup as determined by spectrofluorimetry.
abstract: The level of endogenous formaldehyde in maple syrup was established from a large number (n = 300) of authentic maple syrup samples collected during 2000 and 2001 in the province of Quebec, Canada. The average level of formaldehyde from these authentic samples was measured at 0.18 mg/kg in 2000 and 0.28 mg/kg in 2001, which is lower than previously published. These average values can be attributed to the improved spectrofluorimetric method used for the determination. However, the formaldehyde values obtained demonstrate a relatively large distribution with maximums observed at 1.04 and 1.54 mg/kg. These values are still under the maximum tolerance level of 2.0 mg/kg paraformaldehyde pesticide residue. Extensive heat treatment of maple syrup samples greatly enhanced the formaldehyde concentration of the samples, suggesting that extensive heat degradation of the sap constituents during evaporation could be responsible for the highest formaldehyde values in maple syrup.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de Développement et de Transfert Technologique Acéricole Inc. (Centre ACER), 3600 Casavant Blvd West, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada J2S 8E3. luclagace@centreacer.qc.ca
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lagacé
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guay
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D031002:Acer / Q000737:chemistry*; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000032:analysis; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000032:analysis*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D005557:Formaldehyde