Assessment of dietary furan exposures from heat processed foods in Taiwan

Furan has been demonstrated to be formed in a variety of heat processed foods. The presence of furan is of potential health concern because it has been classified as ‘possibly carcinogenic to humans’ by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). To assess the associate risks from possible exposures in Taiwan, headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) was used to determine furan in a variety of food samples. Due to matrix effects, standard addition method was selected to be performed in this study. More than 100 processed foods were analyzed, and the results showed that the concentrations of furan ranged from 0.4 ng g−1 to 150 ng g−1 in various kinds of samples. Higher furan levels were found principally in the categories of baby foods, coffees, sauces and broths. Exposures from different food varieties were also estimated. As for adults in Taiwan, the average daily intakes of furan were estimated to be 299.89 ng kg−1 body weight d−1 for male, and 177.18 ng kg−1 body weight d−1 for female. For a 6-month-old baby, the daily intake was estimated to be 0.05–0.56, and 0.11–3.42 μg kg−1 body weight d−1 from infant formula and baby food, respectively. To avoid possible exposure, safety precautions such as heating in an open can and applying stirring are recommended to lower the furan level in foods.