The effects of heat treatment and fermentation processes on the formation of furfurals in milk-based dairy products using a QuEChERS technique followed by gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Abstract A method based on gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) combined with QuEChERS extraction was developed to detect furfurals, including furfural, 2-acetylfuran, 5-methyl-2-furfural, and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural, in milk-based dairy products. Under the optimized conditions, good linearity was obtained with correlation coefficients (R2) above 0.999, and the recovery values from the spiked samples were 79.0% - 115.0% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 13.1%. The limits of detection (LODS) were in the range of 0.002-0.02 mg/kg. To investigate the effects of the production process on milk-based dairy products, 55 real samples were analysed. The higher contents of furfurals were observed when higher temperatures were used during heat treatment and fermentation. In addition, the Toxtree and T.E.S.T. software programs were used to predict the risks associated with these four furfurals. Ultimately, safe dairy intake levels were determined.