A system for predicting the amount of VOCs in an extruded product includes a container holding a gaseous sample, a detector in communication with the container for analyzing the gaseous sample, and a processor in communication with the detector and programmed to analyze the data from the detector and predict the amount of VOCs in an extruded product. A method of predicting an amount of extractable volatile organic compounds in an extruded product includes delivering a sample of gas from an intermediate stage in an extrusion process to a detector, analyzing the sample of gas using the detector to obtain data about the amount of VOCs in the sample of gas, delivering the data to a processor, comparing the data to control data to generate comparison data, and predicting the amount of extractable VOCs in the extruded product.