Acrylamide content distribution and possible alternative ingredients for snack foods

Exploring Maillard reaction markers and melanoidins to investigate toxicological and antioxidant profiles of optimized expanded snacks from corn/common bean mixtures

BACKGROUND

Extrusion cooking of cereal-legume flour mixture is an innovative strategy to introduce nutrient-enriched ready-to-eat snacks to the market. However, this thermal process triggers the formation of compounds that could impact safety aspects of these products. Maillard reaction markers and the end products known as melanoidins were evaluated to assess the toxicological and bioactive profiles of extruded snacks from corn-plus-common-bean-flour combinations. Different molecular weight fractions were isolated and purified to analyze their antioxidant activity and to investigate the role of melanoidins.

RESULTS

The snack formulated with an 84:16 ratio of corn:common bean flours exhibited an enhanced toxicological profile. It displayed the lowest levels of acrylamide and furanic compounds, along with reduced blockage of lysine residues in the protein. Extrusion increased the antioxidant activity of uncooked flours (30 to 64%) and total phenolic compounds (26 to 50%), and decreased the available lysine (-72.7 to -79.5%). During the fractionation process, it was established that compounds within the range of 3-10 kDa made the greatest contribution to antioxidant activity. The fraction greater than 10 kDa, which included melanoidins, displayed 7 to 33% lower antioxidant activity. The purification of the fraction greater than 10 kDa revealed that pure melanoidins represented approximately one-third of the antioxidant activity in that fraction. Non-covalent adducts linked to the melanoidin core therefore had a relevant role in the antioxidant action of formulated snacks.

CONCLUSION

This investigation illustrates the importance of considering both potential risks and associated benefits of compounds formed during the Maillard reaction while developing new extruded snacks. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Acrylamide in Corn-Based Thermally Processed Foods: A Review

Widely consumed thermally processed corn-based foods can have a great contribution to acrylamide dietary intake, thus bearing a high public health risk and requiring attention and application of strategies for its reduction. This paper reviews the literature on the acrylamide content of corn-based food products present in the market around the world. The potential of corn for acrylamide formation due to its content of free asparagine and reducing sugars is described. Human exposure to acrylamide from corn-based foods is also discussed. The content of acrylamide in corn/tortilla chips, popcorn, and corn flakes, as widely consumed products all over the world, is reported in the literature to be between 5 and 6360 μg/kg, between <LOD and 2220 μg/kg and between <LOD and 1186 μg/kg, respectively. Although these products are important acrylamide sources in the common diet of all age populations, higher intake values occurred among younger generations.

Processing contaminants in wheat-based foods - a systematic review, meta-analysis and bibliometric analysis

Wheat is one of the main cereals grown around the world and is the basis for several foods such as bread, cakes and pasta. The consumption of these foods raises a concern with food safety, as toxic substances such as acrylamide, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are formed during their processing. To assess the occurrence of processing contaminants in wheat-based foods, a systematic search was carried out in four databases: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus. Of the 1479 results, 28 were included for a meta-analysis. Most studies (69.7%) evaluated acrylamide in bread, cookies, and pasta, while PAHs (26.2%) were determined mainly in wheat grains and pasta. HMF was the least determined contaminant (4.1%), with only four studies on cookies included in the meta-analysis. The highest concentration was for acrylamide (136.29 µg·kg-1) followed by HMF (70.59 µg·kg-1) and PAHs (0.11 µg·kg-1). Acrylamide is the main processing contaminant researched, and no studies on the subject have been found in commercial samples in some regions of the world. This result shows a gap in the dates available about process contaminants in wheat-based foods and how the levels can change depending on the process parameters and the ingredients used.

Simultaneous Determination of Acrylamide, 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural, and Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines in Thermally Processed Foods by Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with a Q Exactive HF-X Mass Spectrometer

In this study, a rapid and reliable method based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with Q Exactive HF-X mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QE/MS) was established for the simultaneous quantification and validation of acrylamide, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, and 14 heterocyclic aromatic amines in thermally processed foods. With the optimization of the pretreatment method, all 16 hazardous compounds with different polarities were simultaneously extracted and purified by one-step purification. By studying various acquisition modes in detail, full MS + PRM detection using an electrospray ionization source in the positive mode gives an excellent-shaped chromatographic peak and thereby achieves a better quantitative ability for analytes in the matrix. This method demonstrated good quantification recovery in the range of 68.85-146.42%. The limits of quantification were within the range from 0.1 to 50 ng/mL. With the method proposed, the simultaneous determination of 16 hazardous compounds in different thermally processed foods was successfully applied. The all-fragment-ion approaches at high resolution have the ability to reduce false-positive peak detections arising from peak alignment software in the detection of samples significantly. The proposed isotope dilution UHPLC-QE/MS method was validated and demonstrated to be sensitive, accurate, and precise for the simultaneous quantification of multiple contaminants in one injection.

Carcinogenic and neurotoxic risks of dietary acrylamide consumed through cereals among the Lebanese population

The present study aims to determine the carcinogenic and neurotoxic risks associated with acrylamide intake from cereal products. Analysis on a UPLC-MS/MS spectrometer revealed that oat-based and mixed cereals contain the highest amount of acrylamide among cereal products with levels as high as 271 and 348 μg/kg, respectively. Children were shown to exhibit both carcinogenic and neurotoxic risks regardless of the type of cereal product consumed. For adults above 50 years of age, only consumers of oat-based cereal products seem to exhibit carcinogenic and neurotoxic risks. To avoid a carcinogenic and neurotoxic risk among the Lebanese population, we propose that food processors set the maximum tolerable concentration for acrylamide in cereal products at 94.8 μg/kg product, a value which is threefolds lower than the average acrylamide levels found in this study. Alternatively, and unreasonably, the average Lebanese population and children among the Lebanese population may choose to cut down on cereal consumption by 1.7- and 7.2-folds respectively, should they want to avoid a health hazard as a result of acrylamide intake. The industry should also respond by optimizing the production process in a way to reduce acrylamide levels in cereals.

Acrylamide in biscuits commercialised in Spain: a view of the Spanish market from 2007 to 2019

The biscuit industry has evolved in the last decades with the inclusion of alternative cereals, pseudo-cereals and other ingredients in traditional recipes, which allows current consumers' needs to be met. The dough composition, thermal treatment applied during baking, low moisture, and high rate of consumption make biscuits important contributors to daily exposure to acrylamide in Western diets. Acrylamide was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS in 80 commercial biscuits marketed in Spain. The mean acrylamide content was 343 μg kg-1 (from <20 to 2144 μg kg-1). Rye, teff and oat-based biscuits exhibited the highest content (2144, 1559 and 1424 μg kg-1, respectively). 70% of the samples were below the benchmark level established by the EU Regulation 2017/2158. Compared to our previous prospective study in 2007 on the Spanish market, acrylamide has experienced an important decline (45%) in wheat-based formulations, demonstrating the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies applied in the sector. However, when all samples were considered, a slight non-significant decrease (18%) was observed. This fact suggests that the reformulation of traditional recipes with innovative cereals and ingredients could increase the acrylamide content in biscuits despite the mitigation strategies applied. Therefore, forthcoming reviews of the regulation should consider establishing categories in biscuits according to the main cereal, as has already been established in breakfast cereals.

Alternative food matrices for snack formulations in terms of acrylamide formation and mitigation

BACKGROUND

The salty snack market is re-inventing itself trying to offer to consumers healthier and added-value products often based on alternative vegetables/cereals, such as vegetable chips. New options mostly involve a nutritional improvement but the toxicological aspects of the reformulation are not usually examined. This work evaluated the acrylamide formation and effectiveness of different mitigation strategies in potato chips and in alternative snacks, such as carrot and pumpkin chips. Fresh potato, carrot and pumpkin samples were fried under controlled conditions and after being subjected to different operations (soaking in water at different times/temperatures, adding lemon or vinegar as pH modifiers or salt).

RESULTS

Acrylamide values in control samples of carrot (224 ± 47 µg kg^-1 ) and pumpkin (514 ± 83 µg kg^-1 ) were significantly lower than in the potato chip samples (3887 ± 509 µg kg^-1 ). The different mitigation treatments had effects on potato and pumpkin chips, the most effective strategies being soaking options and the decrease of the pH of the medium. However, such treatments were not as effective in carrot chips.

CONCLUSIONS

These new vegetable snacks could be a healthy alternative both at nutritional and toxicological level. In addition, acrylamide concentration could even be reduced with simple mitigation operations before frying. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.