Chapter 20 - Acrylamide in ready-to-eat foods

Abstract

Acrylamide in food came into the discussion as a foodborne contaminant in 2002 when the Swedish National Food Administration (NFA) together with the University of Stockholm announced the discovery of acrylamide in food for the first time. Since this time a great deal of research has been done to mitigate the formation of acrylamide during food processing. Since acrylamide is formed under the conditions of the Maillard reaction with low moisture content and temperature >120°C, mitigation is a real challenge because the Maillard reaction is also responsible for the formation of desirable aroma compounds making food tasty and acceptable to consumers. In addition to the reaction conditions, the presence of the amino acid asparagine and certain α-dicarbonyl compounds like reducing sugars is decisive for the formation of acrylamide. The knowledge of the formation pathways of acrylamide reveals several approaches for the development of successful mitigation strategies. Nowadays a wide range of applications are in use such as choice of appropriate raw material in precursors, pretreatment of the raw material before processing, or reducing the processing temperature. The present chapter discusses the different possibilities usable to reduce acrylamide during processing of food.