Acrylamide in Chips and French Fries: a Novel and Simple Method Using Xanthydrol for Its GC-MS Determination

Diverse methodologies are available for quantification of acrylamide (AA), a recent known food-borne toxin. However, these methodologies involve complex, lengthy, and expensive procedures. In this work, a simple method based on a recently developed AA derivatization technique using xanthydrol, avoiding any time-consuming cleanup step, was optimized in order to be applied to the determination of AA in fried potatoes. The method entailed the extraction of AA with water and simultaneous defatting with 1,2-dichloroetane, followed by concentration and derivatization reaction with xanthydrol. The xanthyl-acrylamide formed was extracted with ethyl acetate and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The optimum conditions of derivatization were achieved by response surface methodology based on central composite design. Time, temperature, and volume of xanthydrol solution showed to be the most influencing variables. Under the established conditions, the limit of detection and quantification were 4 and 10 μg/kg, respectively. Validation of the method was performed with recoveries in the 84–105 % range, RSDs lower than 8 % for the complete analytical procedure, including extraction, and analysis of a reference sample. The reported method was applied to commercial chips and homemade potatoes showing results in good agreement with those published in the literature.