Application of an accurate and validated method for identification and quantification of acrylamide in bread, biscuits and other bakery products using GC-MS/MS System

Abstract

A gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed and validated for the separation, detection, identification and quantification of acrylamide in bread, biscuits and similar products. The method showed good precision with values lower than 6%. A good sensitivity was achieved for bread with 2.41 and 7.23 μg kg-1 limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ), respectively, while for biscuits, LOD and LOQ were 4.63 and 13.89 μg kg-1, respectively. Accuracy obtained through the bias of 2 certified reference materials ("crisp bread - ERM®- BD272" and "rusk - ERM®-BD274") gave a value below 1.68-2.52%. The method was applied by analyzing 49 types of bread, biscuits and other similar products. The results showed different levels of acrylamide in bread (values ranged between 7.6 and 165.6 μg kg-1), biscuits (between LOD and 2405.0 μg kg-1), sandwich biscuits with cream (112.6-570.4 μg kg-1), biscuits for infants and young children (between LOD and 801.7 μg kg-1), gingerbread (349.5-955.5 μg kg-1) and crackers (347.8-366.1 μg kg-1).