Rapid Determination of Acrylamide by HILIC-MS/MS in Selected Food Samples

Abstract

A simple, rapid, and robust hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method has been applied for the determination of acrylamide in bread, potato-based heat-processed products, and cereal-based infant food. The QuEChERS methodology was used for sample extraction and clean-up. Enzyme asparaginase was used to prepare an acrylamide-free bread-like matrix, thereby eliminating the lack of acrylamide-free food matrices as one of the limitations for method development and validation. The obtained linear range was 10–2500 µg/kg, and the limit of detection and the limit of quantification were 2.71 and 10.0 μg/kg (S/N = 3 and 10, respectively). The developed method demonstrated good recoveries (98.9–102.8%), intra-day (2.1–3.8%), and inter-day precision (2.9–4.0%). The acrylamide was found in all samples; the concentrations were lower than benchmark levels set by the European Union. In the baby food sample, the AA concentrations were below the limit of quantification (10 µg/kg), and the benchmark level set by the European Union is 40 µg/kg.