Abstract
Acrylamide (AA), a molecule which potentially increases the risk of developing cancer, is easily formed in food rich in carbohydrates, such as biscuits, wafers, and breakfast cereals, at temperatures above 120 °C. Thus, the need to detect and quantify the AA content in processed foodstuffs is eminent, in order to delineate the limits and mitigation strategies. This work reports the development and validation of a high-resolution mass spectrometry-based methodology for identification and quantification of AA in specific food matrices of biscuits, by using LC-MS with electrospray ionization and Orbitrap as the mass analyser. The developed analytical method showed good repeatability (RSDr 11.1%) and 3.55 and 11.8 μg kg−1 as limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ), respectively. The choice of multiplexed targeted-SIM mode (t-SIM) for AA and AA-d3 isolated ions provided enhanced detection sensitivity, as demonstrated in this work. Statistical processing of data was performed in order to compare the AA levels with several production parameters, such as time/cooking temperature, placement on the cooking conveyor belt, color, and moisture for different biscuits. The composition of the raw materials was statistically the most correlated factor with the AA content when all samples are considered. The statistical treatment presented herein enables an important prediction of factors influencing AA formation in biscuits contributing to putting in place effective mitigation strategies.
Highlights
Once Tareke et al [1] have reported acrylamide (AA) as a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs in the food industry, Member States of the European Union and the European Commission have made considerable efforts to investigate AA formation pathways in order to reduce the levels of this compound in processed foods
72.0444) retention time was measured, and subsequently, the concentration of the AA that yielded a signal equal to a certain value of noise to signal ratio was estimated, by comparing measured signals from samples with known low concentrations of the AA with those of blank samples. This method allows a decrease of the signal to be observed to the extent that the concentration is reduced through a series of dilutions, establishing the minimum concentration at which the analyte can be reliably quantified
The signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios accepted as estimates of the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ)
Summary
Once Tareke et al [1] have reported acrylamide (AA) as a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs in the food industry, Member States of the European Union and the European Commission have made considerable efforts to investigate AA formation pathways in order to reduce the levels of this compound in processed foods. The choice of cereal varieties with lower levels of free asparagine is recommended, but challenging given the influence of environmental conditions on their production [10]. The choice of different varieties of cereals determines the development of AA: Five varieties of rye with different fertilizations were used to study the effect of nitrogen and sulfur on AA formation. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry have become the method of choice for the determination of AA in food products, by using different mass analysers. The implemented procedure has been applied for investigating the impact of several production parameters on the AA content in biscuits
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