New test for rapid detection of formaldehyde in food

In recent years, health concerns have been sparked by the revelation that formaldehyde has been illegally used for bleaching and preservation in some food processing operations.

Traditional tests for formaldehyde measurement are unsuitable for on-site food safety inspections as they are time-consuming and expensive, requiring sophisticated equipment and skills. In addition, the test kits can be easily interfered with by irrelevant substances.

Researchers from Hong Kong have now developed a test that uses fluorescent probes for rapid detection of formaldehyde in food. The simple, inexpensive procedure can test 10 food samples on-site simultaneously, as compared to traditional methods which take 30 minutes to test each food sample.

The new test offers good selectivity and high stability. If the food sample contains formaldehyde, under handheld UV light the fluorescent probes will appear to be fluorescent blue, which can be easily observed by the naked eye, without expensive equipment or sophisticated skills. The test is therefore suitable for on-site food safety inspection and front-line quality control.

The study has been published in the journal Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry.