Development and validation of a headspace method for determination of furan in food

In the past furan had been found to form in foods during thermal processing. These findings and a recent classification of furan as a possible human carcinogen prompted us to develop a simple isotope dilution method for its determination in foods. We also investigated effects of furan volatility, sample matrix and partitioning of furan between water and fat constituents of sample on the analytical determination of furan. The method is based on headspace sampling of a 2 ml vial containing 1 g of sample. For analysis, samples were spiked with d4-furan, homogenized in a blender at 0°C, with water if required, and sub-sampled to vials containing sodium sulphate. After equilibration at 30°C, 50 µl of headspace was injected into the split/splitless injection port of a GC/MS (EI, SIM). The method is linear in the 0.4–1000 ng/g range with a limit of detection of 0.1 ng/g.