A rapid and sensitive method for simultaneous quantification of seven furfural compounds in milk powder based on GC-MS/MS combined with QuEChERS method

A precise analysis method using gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was developed to detect seven furfural compounds in milk powder, including furfural, 2-acetylfuran, 5-methyl-2-furfural, 1-(5-methylfuran-2-yl)ethanone, 2(5H)-furanone, 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural and furfuryl alcohol. Applying QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) extraction methodology, the detection condition for all compounds was optimized to obtain good linearity between 0.001–2 mg/kg with correlation coefficients (R2) above 0.9990. The recoveries for the seven furfurals from milk powder samples are 92.06–106.19 %, with intra-day relative standard deviation ranging from 0.01 % to 3.32 % and inter-day relative standard deviation from 0.09 % to 1.58 %. The limits of detection (LODs) were between 0.0003–0.001 mg/kg and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were in the range of 0.001–0.003 mg/kg. A total of 34 real samples were analyzed to estimate the reliability and practicality of the developed method. The results obtained in the samples studied showed that galacto-oligosaccharide and fructose evidently increased the content of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural, and the levels of 2(5H)-furanone was positively connected to the proportion of carbohydrate, in milk powders.