HPLC-UV quantitative analysis of acrylamide in baked and deep-fried Chinese foods

A simple and cost-effective method using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a diode array detector has been applied for determination of acrylamide in baked and deep-fried Chinese foods. The method entails water extraction of acrylamide, sample enrichment and clean-up by solid-phase extraction cartridges followed by detection at 210 nm. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification were 8.0 and 25 μg/kg (S/N = 3 and 10, respectively). The recoveries of acrylamide in real samples were 89.0-103%. Indigenous Chinese foods including Binggan, Crisp Mahua, Mahua, Paicha, Yougao, Youtiao, moon cake and Cantonese moon cakes were analyzed for their acrylamide contents. The acrylamide contents in baked and deep-fried foods were found to be 86.3-151 μg/kg and do not relate positively to the brownness of these cooked foods. More interestingly, the acrylamide content in sweet and savory Binggan can be reduced by 31 and 38% respectively when baking soda is used. The baked and deep-fried foods containing additives such as soda, baking soda and common salt have lower acrylamide contents than expected, indicating that these food additives could possibly play a key role in minimizing the formation of acrylamide in the cooking process.