Acrylamide Formation In Biscuits Research Articles

Safety of chia seeds (Salvia hispanica L.) subject to thermal processing in relation to the formation of process contaminants as a novel food for extended uses.

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on the safety of chia seeds in foods subject to thermal processing which may result in the formation of process contaminants. The safety assessment of this novel food (NF) is based on previous assessments of chia seeds by the EFSA NDA Panel, information received from a public call for data by EFSA and information retrieved from an extensive literature search performed by EFSA. In 2019, during the overall safety assessment of chia seeds, the NDA panel retrieved one reference which, among others, investigated the formation of process contaminants, i.e. acrylamide, hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural, in wheat flour‐based biscuits with added chia seeds flour. Based on this study, the Panel considers that there is a potential for substantial acrylamide formation in biscuits with 10–20% added chia seeds flour with low residual moisture contents (≤ 2%). The Panel is not aware of further scientific evidence corroborating these findings. The extensive new literature searches performed by EFSA did not show any relevant articles regarding either asparagine content or formation of process contaminants in chia seeds and products thereof. Information received from the call for data were either limited or inconclusive. The available evidence does not provide a basis to conclude whether or not the addition of chia seeds to foods undergoing heat treatment (at temperatures above 120°C) results in increased formation of acrylamide as compared to these foods without chia seeds. Reported concentrations of hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural in heat‐treated chia seeds do not pose a safety concern. No information on other process contaminants in chia seeds was found.

Acrylamide formation in biscuits made of different wholegrain flours depending on their free asparagine content and baking conditions

Due to a high content of bioactive compounds with beneficial health effects, wholegrain flours of different cereals have been extensively used in the confectionery industry. However, according to our study, cereal species and their varieties have different potential for the formation of acrylamide in biscuits. In this study, wholegrain flours of eight genotypes of small grain cereals (bread wheat, durum wheat, soft wheat, hard wheat, triticale, rye, hulless barley and hulless oat) and four genotypes of maize (white-, yellow- and red-coloured standard seeded maize, and blue-coloured popping maize) were used to prepare biscuits. The biscuits were baked at 180 °C for 7, 10 and 13 min. At 180 °C, acrylamide was detected at all baking times, reaching a final concentration of 72.3 up to 861.7 μg/kg after 13 min of baking in refined bread wheat-based biscuits and hulless oat-based biscuits, respectively. Data indicated that acrylamide in biscuits could not exactly correspond to free asparagine in flour. However, hulless oat, durum wheat and rye flour with the highest content of free asparagine of 859.8, 603.2 and 530.3 mg/kg, respectively, generated most acrylamide in biscuits baked for 13 min. The lowest content of acrylamide was found in biscuits prepared from refined bread wheat flour and wholegrain red maize flour that also contained the lowest content of free asparagine. After baking for 7, 10 and 13 min, the content of acrylamide in these samples was 17.9 and 24.4 μg/kg, 51.9 and 28.7 μg/kg and 72.3 and 95.2 μg/kg, respectively. The results suggest that the use of cereal flours low in free asparagine can be an effective strategy for acrylamide mitigation in biscuits, together with the use of lower thermal load during baking.

Determination of Acrylamide in Biscuits by High-Resolution Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry: A Novel Application.

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.

Prediction of acrylamide formation in biscuits based on fingerprint data generated by ambient ionization mass spectrometry employing direct analysis in real time (DART) ion source

The objective of this study is the evaluation of the potential of high-throughput direct analysis in real time–high resolution mass spectrometry (DART–HRMS) fingerprinting and multivariate regression analysis in prediction of the extent of acrylamide formation in biscuit samples prepared by various recipes and baking conditions. Information-rich mass spectral fingerprints were obtained by analysis of biscuit extracts for preparation of which aqueous methanol was used. The principal component analysis (PCA) of the acquired data revealed an apparent clustering of samples according to the extent of heat-treatment applied during the baking of the biscuits. The regression model for prediction of acrylamide in biscuits was obtained by partial least square regression (PLSR) analysis of the data matrix representing combined positive and negative ionization mode fingerprints. The model provided a least root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) equal to an acrylamide concentration of 5.4μgkg−1 and standard error of prediction (SEP) of 14.8μgkg−1. The results obtained indicate that this strategy can be used to accurately predict the amounts of acrylamide formed during baking of biscuits. Such rapid estimation of acrylamide concentration can become a useful tool in evaluation of the effectivity of processes aiming at mitigation of this food processing contaminant. However, the robustness this approach with respect to variability in the chemical composition of ingredients used for preparation of biscuits should be tested further.

A perspective on the evaluation of safety risks in thermal processing of foods with an example for acrylamide formation in biscuits

Thermal processing induces typical changes in foods such as enzyme inactivation, microbial destruction, as well as the development of desirable sensory characteristics. However, heating at elevated temperatures has been shown to generate potentially toxic compounds. In 2002, the discovery of acrylamide in fried potatoes caused a worldwide interest. It is a fact that numerous other toxicants can also be found in heated foods. Since safety remains as a primary objective, one of the challenges facing the food industry is to minimise these toxicants without adversely affecting desired attributes of thermal processing. To meet this challenge, it is essential to combine the knowledge on chemical mechanisms and process engineering. The Bigelow's procedure is used to evaluate a sterilisation process for the calculation of total lethality from the time-temperature history of food at the coldest point. This procedure could be successfully adapted to the baking process to evaluate acrylamide formation risk from the ...

Mitigation of acrylamide formation in cookies by using Maillard reaction products as recipe modifier in a combined partial conventional baking and radio frequency post-baking process

This study aimed to mitigate acrylamide formation in cookies by lowering thermal energy input along with certain recipe modifications. Lowering temperature required longer cooking times as expected in order to achieve desired final moisture content. To shorten cooking time, conventional baking was combined with radio frequency post-baking process. Lack of development of surface browning in cookies during lower-temperature baking could be overcome by adding the Maillard reaction products (MRP) into dough. The MRP used to modify dough was prepared by heating a binary mixture of arginine and glucose at 100 °C for 6 h or by overbaking thin dough-layered disks. In comparison with control cookie baked at 205 °C for 11 min, combined conventional baking (205 °C for 8 min) and radio frequency post-drying process (45 s) decreased acrylamide formation in biscuits by up to 50 %. The use of Maillard reaction products to improve the visual acceptability of cookies to the consumer may have applications in food industry.

Effect of formulation on the capacity of l-asparaginase to minimize acrylamide formation in short dough biscuits

The influence of the matrix composition and structure on the capacity of asparaginase to reduce acrylamide formation in biscuits was studied. In particular, formulations differing for water (10 to 20% on total weight) and fat (0 to 15% on total weight) content, fat type (margarine, palm oil) and lipid phase distribution were considered. In the latter case, palm oil was substituted with a monoglyceride–palm oil–water gel (hydrogel). The results showed that high water contents, by favoring precursor mobility, promoted acrylamide formation as well as the enzyme capability of reducing the toxic molecule levels in the final product. On the contrary, the presence of fat significantly reduced acrylamide development and enzyme activity as compared with the fat free formulation. It can be hypothesized that the presence of fat would hamper the interaction between the precursors in the aqueous phase, leading to lower amounts of acrylamide. By substituting fat with hydrogel, the biscuit behaved as a fat free system, where acrylamide formation as well as its reduction by means of asparaginase activity was higher than in the fat-containing biscuits. It is likely that the inclusion of palm oil in the dough through the hydrogel modified the system morphology, thus not hampering the encounter among reactants and consequently favoring acrylamide formation.

Modelling the effect of asparaginase in reducing acrylamide formation in biscuits

The influence of asparaginase on acrylamide formation, as well as colour development, in short dough biscuits was studied. In particular, asparaginase concentration, incubation time and temperature were changed according to an experimental design. As acrylamide formation was found to vary significantly between biscuits obtained by using the same ingredients and process, a mixed effect model was used to model variation of acrylamide concentration. By contrast a fixed effect model was used for colour polynomial analysis. Within the range of study, the overall results allowed the best conditions for minimising acrylamide formation to be found. It can be suggested that acrylamide development was at a minimum at intermediate asparaginase concentrations, as well as at the lowest time and temperature of incubation. Asparaginase addition did not significantly affect the colour of the final product, although the quadratic term of the incubation temperature did slightly.

Effect of low‐temperature long‐time pre‐treatment of wheat on acrylamide concentration in short dough biscuits

In April 2002, unexpected high levels of the neurotoxic and suspected carcinogen acrylamide (AA) were found in many heated foods, mainly represented by cereal and potato derivatives. Since then, due to the great consumption of dietary sources of AA among people of different ages and in different countries, worldwide efforts have been carried out to reduce the formation of the toxic molecule in foods. In this paper, the effect of a low-temperature long-time pre-treatment of wheat grains on AA formation in biscuits was investigated. Wheat grains were subjected to heating at 100 degrees C for 8 h and subsequently milled. The obtained flour was used to prepare biscuits that were compared for AA content, texture and color with control samples obtained by using flour from unheated wheat. The low-temperature long-time pre-treatment was responsible for a great decrease (up to 42%) in AA levels in the biscuits, without causing significant changes in the color and texture parameters. As the pre-treatment did not cause any change in sugar and asparagine concentrations, such a reduction in AA concentration can be attributed to a difference in the thermal effect generated in the biscuits obtained by using the unheated and pre-heated flours. In fact, as the heating pre-treatment caused a 2% moisture decrease in the flour, less time at the same temperature was required to obtain biscuits with comparable moisture contents.