Effect of freezing pretreatment on the mitigation of acrylamide in potato chips and French fries

Abstract

Potato chips and French fries are popular snacks worldwide. However, when prepared at home, they entail a high risk of acrylamide exposure. A readily accessible method to mitigate this risk holds significant public benefit. This study froze raw potatoes at various temperatures (5 °C, −5 °C, −10 °C, −15 °C, and −20 °C), and thawed them to prepare potato chips and French fries. The objective was to investigate the effects of freezing pretreatment on the acrylamide reduction in homemade potato snacks. The results revealed that freezing raw potatoes induced disruption in cell structure, effectively diminishing the precursors of acrylamide, including glucose, fructose, and asparagine. Specifically, freezing at −10 °C resulted in a significance acrylamide reduction of 63.16 % and 48.36 % in potato chips and French fries, respectively. However, it was acknowledged that freezing pretreatment would increase the oil content and hardness, negatively affected the quality of potato chips and French fries. In conclusion, our study underscores that freezing pretreatment at −10 °C represents a simple and effective method for reducing acrylamide in potato chips and French fries, with lower acrylamide content, minimal yellow bias, and the smallest color difference.