An eco-friendly, quick and cost-effective method for the quantification of acrylamide in cereal-based baby foods.
BACKGROUND
The presence of acrylamide in cereal-based baby foods is a matter of great concern owing to its possible health effects. Derivatization followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is one of the most common methods to quantify acrylamide. However, it requires the use of toxic chemicals and is time-consuming. The aim of this study was to develop an eco-friendly, rapid and inexpensive method for the determination of acrylamide in cereal-based baby foods.


RESULTS
The method involves defatting with n-hexane, extraction into water, precipitation of proteins, bromination, extraction into ethyl acetate and injection into a GC/MS system. The effects of defatting, precipitation, treatment with triethylamine, addition of internal standard and column selection were reviewed. A flow chart for acrylamide analysis was prepared. To evaluate the applicability of the method, 62 different cereal-based baby foods were analyzed. The levels of acrylamide ranged from not detected (below the limit of detection) to 660 µg kg(-1).


CONCLUSIONS
The method is more eco-friendly and less expensive because it consumes very little solvent relative to other methods using bromine solutions and ethyl acetate. In addition, sample pre-treatment requires no solid phase extraction or concentration steps. The method is recommended for the determination of trace acrylamide in complex cereal-based baby food products.
Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Akdeniz University, 07058, Antalya, Turkey.
Mehmet Fatih
MF
Cengiz
Cennet Pelin Boyacı
CP
Gündüz
D020106:Acrylamide / Q000032:analysis*; D004032:Diet; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000737:chemistry*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food / Q000032:analysis*; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction
D020106:Acrylamide
GC/MS; acrylamide; baby food; bromination; cereals; derivatization