Development of a densitometric HPTLC method for determination of 5-HMF in fruit-based baby foods in Turkey

This study reports the determination of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) by HPTLC in fruit-basedbaby food products and compares the other techniques. The performance of QuEChERS method was evaluated for the measurement of 5-HMF. The mean recovery and RSD% at the two-fortification level of 25 and 250 ng/spot were 83.65% and 2.0%, and 96.02% and 3.0%, respectively. LOD and LOQ levels for 5-HMF were found 1.54 ng/spot and 4.67 ng/spot in fruit-based baby foods, respectively. Fifty eight commercial products on the Istanbul market were evaluated by developed and validated HPTLC method and, 5-HMF were determined in 48 (82.76%) in the range of 13.12-28.90 mg/kg. Although the concentration of 82.76% of the 5-HMF detected products was found to be below the legal limit, the results revealed that a new regulation should be made in fruit-based food considering the baby exposure limit. The analytical performance of this method verifies its potential applicability with particularly low cost and simple sample pretreatment.