Investigation on Furan Levels in Pressure-Cooked Foods.

Adriana P Arisseto,Maria Cecília F Toledo,Eduardo Vicente

doi:10.1155/2013/904349

Abstract

Furan is a food processing contaminant classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans. As the occurrence of furan has been reported in a variety of foods processed in sealed containers, the objective of this work was to investigate if the contaminant can be found in home-cooked foods prepared in a pressure cooker. For that, several foods including beans, soy beans, whole rice, beef, pork, potato, and cassava were pressure-cooked and analyzed for the furan content by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry preceded by a headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME-GC/MS). Furan was not found above the limit of quantification in the pressure-cooked samples. No furan has either been found in reheated samples after 24 hours under cold storage. Although levels up to 173 μg/kg were already reported for commercial canned/jarred foods, it seems that the cooking in a pressure cooker may not represent a concern in relation to the occurrence of furan in foods.

Highlights

Furan (C4H4O) is a colorless ammable liquid with an ethereal odor, having a low molecular weight of 68 and a high volatility with the boiling point of 31○C [1]
In order to evaluate the processing parameters and mechanisms that lead to the furan formation in canned/jarred foods, pressure cooking conditions have been used to simulate the sterilization step employed in a typical commercial canning operation in which the generation of the contaminant is supposed to occur [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. ese studies have con rmed that furan can be formed when model systems and retail foods are heated in sealed vials under the mentioned conditions
Considering that the furan formation under pressure cooking conditions has already been demonstrated in model systems and retail foods heated in sealed vials, it is important to evaluate if the contaminant can be found in home pressure-cooked foods

Summary

Introduction

Furan (C4H4O) is a colorless ammable liquid with an ethereal odor, having a low molecular weight of 68 and a high volatility with the boiling point of 31○C [1]. In 2004, American researchers demonstrated that furan can be formed during the thermal treatment of several foods, including canned/jarred products [3]. E occurrence of furan in canned and jarred foods has been attributed to the thermal treatment carried out in hermetically sealed containers which avoids losses of the contaminant by volatilization and permits its accumulation in the products [4]. Ese studies have con rmed that furan can be formed when model systems and retail foods are heated in sealed vials under the mentioned conditions. Considering that the furan formation under pressure cooking conditions has already been demonstrated in model systems and retail foods heated in sealed vials, it is important to evaluate if the contaminant can be found in home pressure-cooked foods. The in uence on furan levels of other practices commonly applied a er the pressure cooking, such as an additional cooking without the lid and reheating a er cold storage, was investigated

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion