Factors Affecting Furan Formation in Foods

• Main Authors: Li-Ting Lin, 林立婷
• Other Authors: 蔡詩偉
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/90090743449691415235

碩士 === 臺灣大學 === 環境衛生研究所 === 98 === Furan is a lipophilic and high volatile liquid with low boiling point of 31℃. It may be formed in food under heat treatment, such as the industrial manufacturing and cooking processes. The possible exposure of furan from foods raises concerns because it has been found to cause carcinogenicity and cytotoxicity on animals. Besides, furan is also classified as a possible human carcinogen (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 1995. Recently, many studies have devoted to research on the toxicity, occurrence and analysis of furan in food. Different model systems were also performed to understand the possible factors and the associated mechanism affecting the formation of furan in foods. For the purpose of assessing health risk and reducing exposures from furan, the main objective of this study was to identify other possible factors, including the varieties and the amounts of precursors, heating temperature and heating time. Taguchi method coupled with model system was employed to find the effects of these factors on furan formation from certain precursors (e.g., sugars and ascorbic acid, amino acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids), respectively. Besides, the technique of solid phase microextraction (SPME) equipped with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was performed for the determination of furan. Under the experimental conditions of this study, the results indicated that heating temperature and time might affect furan formation from sugars and ascorbic acid (p= 0.0006 and p=0.0448, respectively). As heating temperature or heating time increased, the amount of furan produced by sugars and ascorbic acid would be increased. Besides, heating temperature also has effect on furan formation by polyunsaturated fatty acids (p= 0.0093). In the premise of food safety, furan formation would be decreased by using lower temperature to cook or sterilize for food containing above components. Shorting heating time may be helpful to reduce furan levels in food fortified with sugars and ascorbic acid as well. Further studies are still needed to clarify the complex mechanism of furan formation in foods.