Interference-free determination of acrylamide in potato and cereal-based foods by a laboratory validated liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry method

A simple and rapid method was developed and validated for the determination of acrylamide in potato and cereal-based foods by using a single quadrupole liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) interfaced with positive atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI+). Acrylamide was simply extracted with 0.01 mM acetic acid in a vortex mixer prior to LC–MS analysis. The applicability of validated method was shown for a wide range of processed foods including chips, fries, crisps, breads, biscuits and cookies. The mean recovery was found to be 99.7 with a repeatability of 1.8% in the range 100–1000 ng/g. During LC–MS analyses, the major interfering co-extractive was identified as valine which yields characteristic [M + H]+ and compound specific product ions having m/z of 118 and 72, respectively. Valine increased the baseline signal preventing accurate and precise quantitation, and resulted in poorer sensitivity in selected ion monitoring mode. The adverse effect of valine could be limited by instrumentally adjusted delay time or by solid-phase extraction with strong cation-exchanger sorbent.