Determination of Furfural in Beer by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Solid-Phase Extraction

Furfural is a sensitive indicator of beer staling. A new solid-phase extraction (SPE) column PEP-SPE (Polar-Enhanced Polymer, 500 mg/6 mL) was used to develop a method for extraction of furfural from beer. The PEP-SPE column retains furfural with higher selectivity than the commonly used C-18-SPE column. Satisfactory precisions were obtained with %RSD (n = 6) less than 2.2% for peak areas. Recovery rates were in the range of 99.7-100.1% due to the simple treatment and good resolution. The detection limit was 5 mu g/L. Furfural concentration ranged from 10 to 32 mu g/L in twelve fresh beer samples. A noticeable increase in furfural content was found after beer samples were kept at 35 degrees C for seven days. The calculated correlation coefficient between taste panel scores for beer freshness and the furfural content of aged beer samples was -0.65, which showed a good inverse correlation between freshness marks and furfural content.