Levels of Acrylamide in Commercial Potato Crisps Sold in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Acrylamide is mainly formed in fried and baked carbohydrate rich foodstuffs such as potato chips and crisps through maillard reaction at elevated temperatures. This study was designed to determine the levels of acrylamide in commercial potato crisps those sold in Nairobi, Kenya. Different brands of potato crisps were purchased from retail outlets while unbranded (street) samples were purchased from kiosks in five districts of Nairobi County. The samples purchased were a total of 35 branded samples and 15 unbranded samples. The parameters analyzed were moisture, colour and acrylamide content. The moisture content of the crisps ranged from 0.39% to 7.97%. There was a significant (P≤0.05) difference among the crisp samples in the L* a* b* colour parameters. Most of the samples were light colored with lightness (L*) parameters greater than 50 apart from only two samples. Most samples tended towards green as shown by the negative values of redness parameter (a*) indicating that there was less or no excess browning of the products during frying. All the samples tended towards yellow as indicated by positive values of yellowness parameter (b*). Acrylamide levels significantly (P≤0.05) differed between the traded crisps brands ranging from non-detectable levels to 8666 μg kg−1 in the branded samples while in the unbranded samples it ranged from 5666 μg kg−1 in Kiosk 7 to 9499 μg kg−1 in Kiosk 6. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) in acrylamide levels between the branded and the unbranded (street) potato crisps. Most of the flavoured brands were non-detectable.