Rapid determination of acrylamide contaminant in conventional fried foods by gas chromatography with electron capture detector

Gas chromatography coupled with electron capture detector (GC–ECD) was successfully developed and applied for the rapid determination of acrylamide in conventional fried foods, such as potato crisps, potato chips, and fried chicken wings. The method included defatting with n-hexane, extraction with aqueous solution of sodium chloride (NaCl), derivatization with potassium bromate (KBrO3) and potassium bromide (KBr), and liquid–liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. The final acrylamide extract was analyzed by GC–ECD for quantification and by GC–MS for confirmation. The chromatographic analysis was performed on the HP-INNOWax capillary column, and good retention and peak response of acrylamide were achieved under the optimal conditions (numbers of theoretical plates N = 83,815). The limit of detection (LOD) was estimated to be 0.1 μg kg−1 on the basis of ECD technique. Recoveries of acrylamide from conventional samples spiked at levels of 150, 500 and 1000 μg kg−1 (n = 4 for each level) ranged between 87 and 97% with relative standard deviations (RSD) of less than 4%. Furthermore, the GC–ECD method showed that no clean-up steps of acrylamide derivative would be performed prior to injection and was slightly more sensitive than the MS/MS-based methods. Validation and quantification results demonstrated that this method should be regarded as a new, low-cost, and robust alternative for conventional investigation of acrylamide.