Occurrence of furan in coffee from Spanish market: Contribution of brewing and roasting

• Published in: Food chemistry Vol. 126; no. 4; pp. 1527 - 1532
• Main Authors: Altaki, M.S., Santos, F.J., Galceran, M.T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 15.06.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Beans; Beers; Biological and medical sciences; Coffee; Coffee, tea and other stimulative beverage industries; Fermented food industries; Food analysis; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Furan; GC–MS; Headspace solid-phase microextraction; Furan; GC–MS; Headspace solid-phase microextraction; Food analysis; Coffee; Markets; Brewing; Solid phase microextraction; GC-MS; Surveillance; Analysis; Headspace; Spanish; Food
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.11.134

► Furan in coffee brews was successfully analysed by HS-SPME-GC–MS. ► Low temperatures and long times in roasting process decreases the furan content. ► Furan levels in espresso and drip coffee brews ranged from 20 to 146ng/ml. ► Commercial packed coffee capsules showed furan levels from 117 to 244ng/ml. ► Furan daily intake through coffee consumption was from 0.03 to 0.38μg/kg body weight. In this work, we evaluated the occurrence of furan in brews obtained from regular, decaffeinated, and instant coffee and commercial packed capsules. For this purpose, a previously developed automated headspace solid-phase microextraction method coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC–MS) was used. Initially, the influence of HS-SPME conditions on furan formation was evaluated. In addition, the effect of roasting conditions (temperature and time) used for coffee beans on furan formation was also studied. We found that low temperature and long roasting time (140°C and 20min) decreases the final furan content. Furan concentrations in regular ground coffee brews from an espresso coffee machine were higher (43–146ng/ml) than those obtained from a home drip coffee maker (20 and 78ng/ml), while decaffeinated coffee brews from a home drip coffee maker (14–65ng/ml) showed a furan concentration similar to that obtained from regular coffee. Relatively low concentrations of this compound (12–35ng/ml) were found in instant coffee brews, while commercial packed coffee capsules showed the highest concentrations (117–244ng/ml). Finally, the daily intake of furan through coffee consumption in Barcelona (Spain) (0.03–0.38μg/kg of body weight) was estimated.