Determination of acrylamide in potato chips by a reversed-phase LC–MS method based on a stable isotope dilution assay

Potato-based products represent an important part of the daily intake of food-derived acrylamide, mainly on adolescent population from western countries. A reversed-phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based on a stable isotope dilution assay was used for acrylamide analysis. Aqueous sample extraction, cleaning with Carrez solution and solid phase extraction with methanol was applied. The ratio potato/NaCl solution is critical during extraction where the optimum ratio is 0.125 g/ml NaCl 2 M solution. The use of virgin olive oil, as retaining matrix, during methanol desiccation was critical to achieve high recoveries. The method performance was validated for limit of detection (23.2 μg/kg) and quantitation (91.8 μg/kg), linearity (r > 0.999, 25–1000 μg/kg), recovery (98.8%). The method was applied on commercial potato chips; the intra-day repeatability was set at 3.9% and values were corrected with a labeled internal standard (¹³C₃-acrylamide). No significant differences on the acrylamide content were observed between industrial-scale and local-scale processed potato chips.